Gilmore Girls: The Tomorrow Years
by J. Salus
Summary: Lorelai Gilmore has been raising her granddaughter as Rory reaps the success of her book, but when the publisher wants a sequel Rory finds herself back in Stars Hollow facing a sixteen-year-old daughter who wants nothing to do with her. Not only that, but she is realizing that her daughter is nothing like her and doesn't appreciate being "encouraged" to follow in her footsteps.
1. Chapter 1

**Episode 1: Of course I'm happy**

The only time Lorelai gardened was to visit Paul Anka.

She sat with her legs out across the lawn as she troweled weeds away from the fancy marble marker for her old dog. That marker, grey and white just like him, was one of the few times she splurged like her mother, but Paul Anka deserved it.

Paul Anka had deserved everything, even if Lorelai had to see to it herself that he had a whole garden around him. That said a lot because she hated dirt and worms and almost everything that lived in dirt with the worms.

"I hate school," a voice announced to the world as feet stomped over grass.

Lorelai heard a backpack drop to the ground, buckles clacking, followed by shoes being kicked off and hurled with thuds onto the porch steps.

Already laughing, she turned and wiped a hair off her cheek.

"Lora, how much homework do you have today?" she asked her granddaughter who gave up walking entirely to plop first on her butt, then fell to her back with arms spread out.

She was _so_ dramatic, like a regular Vivian Leigh.

"I'm never going back," Lora said to the sky.

"Yes you are," Lorelai said sing-songy, getting up only to plop snow-angel style next to her.

Lora looked at her with big brown eyes, eerily like Emily's, which her mother loved. _About time someone got my eyes_, she said when she first saw her at the hospital. _Brown eyes are beautiful, too._

"What happened?" Lorelai asked, blowing hair out of her mouth now.

Lora rolled over with these pleading eyes, huge like buckets of chocolate.

"_Besides_ still being called _Richard_," Lora droned.

Lorelai winced at that. Rory named her Richard Lorelai Gilmore, because why shouldn't a girl be named after her beloved dead grandpa and why shouldn't there be another Lorelai in the family?

Rory settled on calling her Lora after the drugs wore off.

"Yes, besides that," Lorelai said.

"They want me to read two chapters, do math homework, _and_ write a short story," Lora complained, her brunette hair spilling around her rosy cheeks like chocolate being poured out of a bowl. Everything about her granddaughter made Lorelai think of chocolate. Her skin was silky smooth like white chocolate, her fanned out lashes like chocolate cotton candy, if there was such a thing. There should be. There really should be.

"You love to read," Lorelai started.

"Only what _I _like to read, not what other people _tell_ me to read," Lora interjected with one fast breath.

"Math is easy for you," Lorelai continued, counting off on her gloved fingers now, which she saw had dirt on them.

"And your mom is one of the most famous authors in the world," Lorelai said. "Writing comes easy for you."

Lora was silent at that, which broke Lorelai's heart.

"You're right, I should just go get started on this stuff." Lora was quiet when she said that, quiet when she shoved to her feet, chocolate hair spinning out behind her.

Lorelai shoved to her feet too, though much slower, and bounced in front of her to wipe dirt on her nose.

"Better wash your face first," she laughed, then reached out again to wipe dirt on her forehead. "Why do you come home so dirty?"

"Grandma!" Lora laughed and ran from her, arms over her head.

"Better make some tater tots," Lorelai called after her. "We need comfort food now!"

Lora disappeared into the house, her laughter echoing around inside just like Rory's used to when she was her same age, sixteen.

Rory. She hadn't been home in almost ten months now, off on some world tour of the movie _Gilmore Girls_. Her book had done well, maybe too well. She was only ever around for the holidays, but even missed a lot of those because people liked to have her around for readings and talk show appearances when snow was on the ground.

Meanwhile, Lorelai and Luke raised Lora, which was kinda nice because they always wanted a kid together. At the same time, never did she think Rory be more like Christopher than herself when it came to parenting.

It broke her heart, really.

_You should just gilt her into being around more_, Emily said early on, when Lora was still small. _A mother needs to be around for her daughter_.

Feeling that guilt herself, that maybe she failed pressuring Rory to come home, she filled her cheeks with air and huffed. She pulled her gloves off and dug her cellphone from her pocket.

Rory answered on the second ring and all Lorelai heard on the other end was drunken singing.

"Hang on," Rory said over and over until the slurred words faded. "This after party is really out of hand."

"Tater tots are cooking!" Lora called out the living room window.

"Just a minute!" Lorelai waved at her.

"You called me," Rory said.

"I know, I know, I wasn't talking to you." Lorelai walked over to Paul Anka and stared at his headstone. "How is it that the after party for your movie premier is still raging? Wasn't that three days ago?"

"Yes and everyone is having too much fun to stop, apparently," Rory laughed.

"Are you having too much fun to stop?"

"What?"

"Well, when are you coming home? I think all of your house plants are dead. Lora and I haven't really been over there in a while."

"Oh, who cares. I'm not really a house plant kind of person."

"Then why did you have them?"

"I went through a house plant phase."

"Well, did you go through a 'maybe-I'll-try-out-a-kid' phase?" Lorelai shoved hand under her elbow holding up the phone, toeing dirt around.

"What does that mean?" Rory sounded offended.

"Lora hasn't seen you in almost a year, hun," Lorelai softened her tone. "She has barely seen you ever."

"When this book stuff calms down, I'll be home fulltime," Rory said, full-on defensive. "You know that."

"Yes, I know, but the book stuff hasn't calmed down since it got big when Lora was what … three?" Lorelai looked at Paul Anka's headstone for help in remembering, like a block of marble could remember anything and like Paul Anka would have been able to tell her a number anyway.

"She's fine, I call her every week," Rory said.

"Is she fine? Are you sure?"

"Listen, I was going to call you anyway. I'll be back in Stars Hollow in a few days because the publisher wants a sequel. People know I have a kid and they want book two, they want to know what happens next, so I'm going to give that to them."

Lorelai snorted.

"What, you aren't happy for me?"

"Of course I'm happy for you, that's great news. It's just…."

"Just what?"

"What's Lora going to think of it?"

"She'll be happy. She loves the first book."

"Then what will your fans think when they realize you haven't been raising her?"

"That's not fair."

Lorelai was quiet. She blinked up at the late August sun.

"I'll see you soon." Rory hung up.

From inside, Lorelai heard _Funny Face_ tune up and popcorn popping. Usually she loved those sounds, but rubbed her chest because it hurt. It hurt a lot lately.

O


	2. Chapter 2

**Episode 2: When Richard met Forester (Again)**

Lora rolled her eyes.

"Ms. Gilmore, sit up and pay attention." Mrs. Duggan pouted fat lips at her, fists on her squishy hips like she was something to fear.

Lora popped her gum, slouched at her desk with a ratted tennis shoe up against Trisha Mayer's left butt cheek that hung off her chair. She almost felt bad about being like this, but Trisha had dumped her enormous soda from 7-Eleven over her head during lunch and Mrs. Duggan had taken a detour off the Grimm Brother's fairytales to lecture on how terrible it is to be abandoned by a parent and Lora was just sick of this day.

"I will only say this one more time." Mrs. Duggan held up a ruler like she was going to hit someone. "Sit. Up. Now."

Lora leaned her head back onto Ryan McDoosherson's desk, spreading her sticky Coca Cola hair all over it, and popped her gum again.

O

Mrs. Duggan slammed the classroom door behind Lora, which made her laugh because she couldn't believe how mad people got around her.

Even so, she turned on a heel, rubber squeaking against yellowed linoleum, and hitched her backpack higher as she marched to the principal's office just like she was told. She dragged her fingers along the lockers on her way, spinning dials and took a note out lodge in one with the name _Katie BFFie_ on the front. She liked the doodles so she started unfolding it.

"I've only missed about a week and a half of school," a boy said from around the corner.

Lora slowed and listened, unfolding the note slower.

"I'm new," Mystery Boy said. "Kinda."

Lora strutted around the corner and into the front office, leaning with her elbows on the desk next to a tall guy with moppy hair the color of honey. It was sweet enough to touch, but Lora just crinkled the note at the edges as she smiled at him and flipped her sticky hair over a shoulder.

"Hey," she said.

"Leave him alone, Ms. Gilmore," the front desk lady said, someone Lora didn't look long enough at to recognize.

"Hey, wait, I know you." Lora pointed.

He was staring.

"We had kindergarten together," she said slowly, remembering that hair, the way it stuck up on the sides. "You vanished after third grade… _Mike_, right? Mike Forester."

His hair bounced when he nodded, squinting, confused.

"You know, we all thought you died," she said. "No one knew where you went."

"My family moved, but we're back now." He had green eyes. _Green_. No one had green eyes. "I don't remember you."

"Gee, thanks." Lora flipped her hair again.

"Lorelai." Mr. Howard pointed at her from the doorway to his office, suspenders leaving indents in his stomach.

"Richard?" Mike laughed, eyebrows almost up into his hairline. "I _do _remember you! Richard Gilmore!"

"Lora, actually," she said, letting her hair fall in clumps to hide her face.

"Lorelai," Mr. Howard called.

She walked past Mike and peeked over her shoulder at him. He was staring. She smiled and he gulped.

O

"We just started the new year, let's not do this again," Mr. Howard sounded like he was begging, like he was already so tired.

Lora had the note spread out over her folded legs and was reading it between looking up at him pull his hair. But it wasn't interesting, just someone named Rachel gushing about someone named Brian. It was like reading a journal entry written by Mary Ingalls.

"Pay attention, please," Mr. Howard said.

Lora folded the note up again and made eye contact.

"Are you going to do better this year?" he asked. "Or are we going to have you in more detention again?"

Lora didn't answer, just checked the clock on the wall.

"Should I be calling your mother?"

"Go ahead. Tell her hi for me."

"How about I call your grandmother."

Lora snapped to look at him, sitting up, and swallowed her gum. She shook her head and coughed a little. Just about the only people she didn't want to disappoint were Grandma and Grandpa.

O

Kirk was running out of Luke's Diner with Petal in his arms, an angry Grandpa chasing after him with a towel swinging in the air. He saw Lora and his whole demeanor changed.

"Burger time?" he asked, holding the door open for her.

The place smelled like Petal had taken a dump. No wonder Grandpa chased him out with the veins bulging in his neck again.

"Just fries," she said, grabbing a stool and dropping her bag on the floor. "I'm starved."

"That sounds about right," the woman next to her said.

Lora turned to set her straight about interrupting a stranger's conversation, but the words dried up in her mouth.

Mom was back, sitting here in her diner, at her counter, taking a bite out of her fries.

_Rats_.

O


	3. Chapter 3

**Episode 3: Welcome home, I guess**

"I have pictures," Rory held up a stack of photos still in their paper envelop from where they got printed at Office Max.

Everything at Luke's Diner felt the same, from the creaky stool she sat on, loud Babette in the corner going on about Halloween already, and the way the sun bounced off the Windex streaks on the front windows or whatever concoction Luke used. He liked making his own stuff to spray that both cleaned and preserved the environment.

The only thing that wasn't the same was this too-beautiful sixteen-year-old perched on her stool like she was about to run, eyes huge and horrified. Rory could see herself in the polished brown staring back at her, surrounded by the light in the room which made her look dark and dimensionless. She looked like a monster in those eyes.

Of everything in Luke's Diner, this girl wasn't the same.

But she never was.

When _Gilmore Girls_ got popular, Lora was three and tiny and her hair was always a knotted mess. Rory felt like things were perfect but also like they were never going to change. She had lived at the old house with Mom, in her old room by the kitchen, but as fun as it was to watch Mom dote on Lora and Lora pull Paul Anka's tail while Luke cooked at the stove and chased them both with an _I Love Lucy_ kitchen towel, Rory had this fear.

She didn't want it to stay the same. She had to find her own place, her own career, her own everything. And she did, but whenever she came home there was this _girl_. She was always bigger, always crazier, always loud and different. Rory tried to connect with her after the book tours ended, but that failed so she wrote other things and got published in the fiction edition of the New York Times and then collaborated on another book with an author even bigger than herself, but Lora just didn't care. Then … then this movie. This movie meant _everything_ to her.

She knew Mom was dying to see the photos, but Lora was going to see them first. That was a good start, at least she thought.

She waggled the photos at Lora, envisioning her taking them and flipping through them with the same excitement as she herself had with Lane's prom pictures however long ago.

Lora looked away from Rory to track the photos being waved around and her entire face contorted the same ugly way it did before she threw tantrums when she was small.

Rory pulled the photos back and waited for the sixteen-year-old version of that hurricane.

"That's what you want to do?" Lora asked with the same bitterness and curled lip as her mom when she was really upset. God, it was the exact same. She might as well be Lorelai's kid. "After ten months, you want to show me pictures of what?"

"The movie premiere," Rory said.

"Fries, greasy just the way you like." Luke slid a plate of his fries in front of Lora, snagging one and throwing it in his mouth with a grin, like he was playing with her, like she was still three years old and needed encouragement to eat the food in front of her.

"She's not three, Luke," Rory snapped, hating it, hating that he didn't see how awful Lora was being.

Luke's forehead creased up against his backwards baseball cap, the blue one Mom gave him. It was ratted and stained now.

"What?" He put out his arms.

"Don't talk to him like that, _Rory_," Lora said with so much venom she felt like Emily facing off against Lorelai.

"Don't you talk to me like that," she threw back. "You're the one that refused to come out for this movie, which meant no one else could come out for this. I was by myself for a huge moment in my life. Do you know how much this meant to me? The least you can do is look at some photos."

"So I look at these photos of you drinking, dressed up and smiling like you're the greatest thing to ever walk this planet, look at you hugging actors who played our family like you're best friends, and what?" Lora's eyes got bigger with the tears pooling up and spilling out, which made Rory feel rotten and she took a breath to calm down. "Then what, _Mom?_ Do you have another project you need to be in Rome for, or L.A.? How long are you going to grace us with your presence, huh?"

"I'm here to stay," Rory said softly, a hand out because she was supposed to be the adult here and she knew that. With Lora, nothing was easy and she hated that. It wasn't supposed to be like that. "My biggest project is here."

A sob or a laugh, Rory wasn't sure, broke out of Lora's mouth and the tears fell faster.

"Lora," Luke said like he knew how to talk to her, with a tone that was very Grandpa-ish.

But Lora just shook her head and crossed to the door in a blur, hair flying behind her like the tired exhaust to an old truck, and then she was gone.

Rory saw Babette staring at her, like she had done something wrong.

Rory turned her back on her and smoothed the paper envelope holding her pictures. She was proud of the movie, proud of everything she had done.

"What am I missing?" Rory asked Luke, who was moving to the phone. "Why can't I connect with her?"

Luke made an uncomfortable sound, lowered his head and then faced her. He planted both hands on the counter like he needed the support.

"She is your mother," he said. "She is just like Lorelai."

As if that was all she needed to hear, he nodded in approval at his own words and then picked up the wall phone.

Rory gawked at him. That wasn't helpful. Not even a little bit.

O


	4. Chapter 4

**Episode 4: Oh Dolabella**

The Dragonfly Inn Spa Resort smelled like butter.

Lorelai took a deep whiff once the front door fell shut behind her. It smelled like melted butter on muffins or toast. It smelled divine, like she could bathe in it and drink it at the same time and then die from a massive coronary.

"And die happy," she muttered to herself.

"What?" Michel snapped, making her jump.

Michel looked ridiculous. He marched through the front room, a mix of creams and warm browns in what he had first called a "luxury look, but with the comfort of Mom's house," which no one understood at first thanks to his accent and it had upset him so much he actually ate some chocolate. Now, as he jerked a wrinkle out of his suitcoat, he waved a black fan under his nose, which was scrunched in such a stereotypical French way that Lorelai laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Michel bit out. "Dying? Did you say something about dying? Because we're all dying here right now thanks to that new chef you hired for the spa. Do you realize that people come here to relax and lose weight?"

"They don't come here to lose weight," Lorelai corrected, but he just flapped his fan faster.

"Just smelling those waffles – _waffles_, my God – is making me gain weight," Michel said.  
"Waffles!" Lorelai jumped a little because she was starving. "Of course those are waffles. I thought that was toast."

"Toast?" Michel looked at her like he had never seen her before. "How much butter do you put on your toast? Is there any bread left?"

"I make normal toast," Lorelai said. "Well, I don't. Luke does."

"Remind me to never eat at your house ever," Michel droned, then pointed his fan in the direction of the kitchen. "Fix it."

Lorelai put her hands up and walked past him, checking over her shoulder to make sure he didn't see her start moving faster to get there. She wanted some waffles.

The hallway, the whole spa, was still as beautiful and pristine as when they opened it fifteen years ago. This was more downtown than the original Dragonfly Inn, which Michel loved. She could still hear his squeal of joy when she asked him to manage the new spa for her, while she stayed to manage the Inn on the outskirts of town. It was the reason he needed to stay, for them both to make more money. As she ran her hand down the mahogany chair rail along the wall, polished to absolute perfection, she smiled up at the chandeliers that would even make her mother proud. Best investment ever. Anything to keep Michel around.

As it was, the expansion brought Sookie back but only at the Inn and only for six months of the year. Lorelai would take what she could get.

She swung the kitchen doors open, breathing in the bubbling butter and batter.

"Oy, birdy," Winnie greeted through the steam of waffles coming off the skillet. "Are you here about the arsed one, to get him to stop catching flies? His mouth is open enough for it."

"I can never understand you, Win," Lorelai said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Who knew British people sounded so foreign? I thought I'd just get a fun accent to mimic, but no! Learn something new every day." She picked a waffle off the stack and plopped it on her own plate. "So what is 'arsed'?"

"Michel," Winnie said. "He always thinks I'm cocking up."

"Not sure I want to know what that one means." Lorelai pulled a bit of waffle off with her fingers and stuck it in her mouth. "This is good."

"My own recipe, of course." Winnie was energetic, bouncing on her feet like she needed to get rid of excess energy or combust. And she was loud, which Lorelai loved. She loved everything about Winnie from her spunky short gray and blonde hair to the tattoos along her arms. "So, how does Michel want me to get stuffed now?"

"He thinks people are getting fat by breathing in your food," Lorelai said around another bite of waffle.

"Eh?" Winnie shook her head and Lorelai shrugged because Michel was just a drama queen.

Her cellphone rang, chiming Steely Dan against the vintage floral lantern tiles on the walls. She grinned at Winnie who shrugged a shoulder draped with an elegant black blouse that Lorelai made note to ask where she got it later. She checked her phone and jumped when she saw "Luke's Diner."

"Hey Steely Dan," she answered.

Luke spluttered.

"Change my ringtone," he said.

She laughed.

"I've been trying to reach you for 30 minutes," he said. "Where are you?"

"Did you call the Dragonfly Inn?" she asked.

"I did."

"Not there."

"I know."

"You try the spa?" she asked.

"I did and Michel is very upset today. He said something about gaining 10 pounds off the air. Do I want to know?"

"No. And I'm there now."

"Not 10 minutes ago."

"Well, I'm there now."

Luke sighed.

"Rory is in town," he said. "She and Lora ran into each other at the diner."

"Uh oh."

"Mom!" Rory's voice preceded her into the kitchen, the doors flying. "Did Michel tell you how much weight he's gained from the smell of waffles?"

"No, but Luke did and it is 10 pounds," Lorelai said and reached out to her for a hug. "I missed you, kid."

"I don't know where Lora went, but she left her backpack here," Luke said.

"Just bring it home with you," Lorelai said and pointed Rory to the waffle she already plated.

Rory walked over and started pulling it apart. Winnie watched her for a moment then poured syrup on it.

"Now I can't use my fingers," Rory said.

"Eat the waffles right or don't eat them at all," Winnie lectured and turned back to the skillet.

"I don't know where Lora went, though," Luke said.

"I'll find her," Lorelai said.

"But-"

"I'll find her, Luke," she repeated. "Burgers later?"

"Yeah." He hung up.

"So, where are my pictures?" Lorelai slipped her phone back in her pocket, making "gimme" gestures to the envelope she saw Rory clutching.

Rory held it away from her, those blue eyes looking pinched. She was upset.

"I want Lora to see them first," she said.

"Luke said she ran off."

"Yes, and I don't understand why."

"Really, you don't?"

The kitchen doors burst open again and Michel had his fan spread over the lower half of his face.

"Dolabella is missing from the Inn," Michel said.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Dolabella … the horse, Rory, the horse." He stamped his foot.

"I know what this is about." Lorelai made for the door.

O


	5. Chapter 5

**Episode 5: "Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear"**

The clack of Dolabella's hooves on 10th Street sounded heavy and cold, even in the rippling August heat. Lora wiped a lock of hair off her cheek with the back of her hand, staring at the house she knew too well as Dolabella trotted closer and closer and the sun got redder and redder.

She knew that broken second porch step, snapped in half when her ex's wild uncles jumped together onto it after drinking too much, she knew that rickety porch swing that squeaked loud enough to wake the neighbors, knew that patch of dead grass next to the mail box where she puked shortly after trying to drink a whole bottle of tequila. Bad idea. She couldn't look at tequila now without gagging.

Lora pulled back on the reigns and Dolabella sighed.

"Yeah." She sighed too.

She swung off Dolabella, tennis shoes scuffing the tar-lined asphalt. Lora tied the reigns off at the mailbox, a rusted totem to the Banyan family, and then stepped up the door, skipping that second stair.

A cat slinked out of the shadows behind a cracked vase, which was empty aside from some dirt. Lora smiled and crouched to scratch the orange tabby under his chin.

"Hello, Cat Stevens," she greeted.

"You know that's not his name."

Aaron Banyan stood on the other side of the screen door, looking down at her with that damn smile. He gave his irritating "bro" nod and then joined her on the porch, the screen bouncing behind him and startling Dolabella, who whinnied and kicked out a front leg, just missing the mailbox.

"Hey, Rag Doll." Aaron reached down to help her to her feet, hands gentle on her elbows before pulling her in for a hug.

Lora resisted only a little before falling into it, clinging to his Van Morrison t-shirt that smelled like cheap store brand deodorant and clove cigarettes.

"If Dolabella shits on our yard again, my mom's going to have a conniption fit," Aaron said into her hair, voice rumbling in his chest against her face in that gravely and familiar way.

When she didn't respond, he hummed like he knew what this was about and shuffled her backwards to the porch swing. He sat them down, though she was still latched to his chest, head buried into Morrison's peeling plastic face.

"I heard the town princess was back," he said, rocking the swing a little.

Lora pushed away as all her anger swarmed back.

"She acted like I had done something terrible by not being there for her," Lora vented, letting the words out like Winnie's teapot after the water reached a boil. "Her whole world is about what she can do, what she has done, what she sees through her own damn eyes."

Aaron was laughing.

"What?" Lora leaned farther away.

He folded some of her hair behind an ear, sweet like always.

"I missed you," he said.

She scoffed.

"It wasn't me who wanted a break," she reminded.

He just kept smiling.

"You said you wanted me to 'do better,' to 'be better,' like this isn't who I already am, like this was ever bad," she waved between them.

"I'm here whenever you need me, Doll," he said, steady even as he kept swinging the swing, every _creak_ the sound of home. "But one day you're going to see you're better than this town. Just wait."

She was shaking her head when his beautiful face scrunched.

"But I don't get what you said when we broke up," he laughed, like it had been a funny thing. "What did you mean by 'Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear'?"

"'Oh baby baby, it's a wild world'," she sang, but he just shook his head. "'Now that I've lost everything to you, You say you want to start something new.'"

He pulled her back into his side with a laugh and a kiss to her head, apparently still oblivious that she had referenced Cat Stevens' song "Wild World" about a break up, about broken hearts.

She soaked in that laugh anyway, letting it go, letting it soothe her like it always had before when they were kids and she was crying about her lost rag doll that Grandma made her. That's how they met actually, searching for her rag doll, when all he kept saying was that he found one instead. She had been such a mess, tears everywhere, covered in dirt, wild hair.

She was often a mess when he saw her, but least he was always there anyway. It never mattered to him. He loved her too much.

Lora turned her face up and stared into those blue eyes, breathed in his last cigarette. His fingers brushed her chin, then his lips brushed hers. The kiss was gentle and warm, so familiar it hurt.

Dolabella whinnied again and she jumped.

The clomp of hooves made her sit up, though Aaron didn't bother moving, his arm still around her.

Grandma waved from atop Polonius as the gelding whipped his red mane against the late summer flies.

"Hi Lorelai." Aaron waved back.

Grandma slid off Polonius and led him up the dirt walkway to the porch. She leaned on the railing, smiling and a little out of breath.

"Lora, there's burgers at home," she said. "And how much homework is waiting for you in your backpack?"

Lora looked at her feet and realized she didn't even have her backpack.

Grandma was already waving her hand around.

"Grandpa grabbed it from the diner," she said.

"I really don't want to see Rory," Lora admitted and Aaron rubbed her back.

"Can't hide from her forever." Grandma reached out for her, taking a step back which made Polonius rear his head.

Lora looked at her hands still in Aaron's shirt, then up at him. He was smiling, like always.

"See you at school, Doll," he said.

She smoothed his shirt and picked at the peeling Van Morrison picture.

"You need nicer things to wear," she teased.

"Maybe one day," he said.

Lora stood and skipped the broken second step, turning around to look at Aaron again but pretended it was for the cat licking its extended back leg.

"Bye, Cat Stevens," she said.

As she untied Dolabella's reigns, Grandma leaned in to whisper, "_So_, are you back together?"

"Grandma!" she whispered back.

"Okay!" Grandma pulled herself back up on Polonius, who skipped around, eager to get going. "Last person back to the Inn has to do dishes at home!" And with that, she was kicking Polonius to get him running, not like he needed the encouragement.

"Hey!" Lora swung her leg over the saddle, leather squeaking. She was laughing as Dolabella ran after Polonius without any kick to the side, always wanting to be near him anyway.

Dust flared behind her, but when she looked back she could still see that Banyan house, sun kissed and warm in the evening August light.

O


	6. Chapter 6

**Episode 6: That Banyan Boy**

Rory watched Lora wipe ketchup from the side of her mouth with her thumb, then wipe it on her pants.

"Lora," she called for her attention. Once those huge brown eyes rounded on her, Rory lifted her napkin and wiped her own mouth as an example. "You don't live in a cave."

Lora stared, like she couldn't comprehend what she just heard, before slowly lifting her napkin from beside her plate and wiping her mouth.

"Rory, I remember you wiping your mouth with the bottom of your t-shirt," Mom laughed, a fry lathered in ketchup inches from her face. She pointed it at Rory. "You even used a pillow once. Hah, you've used _my _hair!"

"But how old was I?" Rory asked.

"Doesn't matter!" Lora laughed with Mom, both chomping on a fry and laughing through their teeth as they chewed, tipping a little to one side as they looked at each other. They were so much alike it made Rory want to scream.

"Well, I'm your mom, Lora," Rory cut through the giggles. "I'm telling you to use your napkin."

Lora leaned over to Mom, dark eyes locked on Rory, and pretended to wipe her mouth with Mom's long hair that she had let go a little gray. She was trying the "age gracefully" look.

"Lora, want to go through these pictures with me?" Luke was ignoring all of them, squinting at the premiere photos through his glasses. He needed new ones again. "The dress your mom wore is pretty. That blue would look good on you too."

Rory smiled at Luke, swallowing the lump in her throat. She had wanted to look at those photos with Lora, just the two of them like she had envisioned, but once Mom and Lora came back to the house dinner was already on the table and Luke had already opened the envelope because he wanted to see who played who since no one but her had seen the movie yet.

"I still don't get why they cast Megan Fox to play me," Mom laughed, flinging another fry around. "I was never that pretty."

"You were that pretty and are still that pretty," Luke said firmly, looking at her above his glasses.

Mom leaned over to Rory, the fry dripping ketchup onto the table.

"It is so fun when they go senile," Mom whispered loudly and gave Luke a wink.

"She still wants to meet you," Rory said. "You never got to see the sets either. They got everything right."

"Why would I go see a replica when I live in the real thing?" Mom put the fry back on her plate instead of in her mouth. That meant she was upset about something, but Rory didn't know what.

Wanting to talk to her more about why she at least hadn't attended the premier when she had been so excited, Rory turned to Lora in hopes of clearing the room for a bit.

"Go look at the photos in the other room with Grandpa, then throw your stuff in your bag so we can go home later," she said. "It'll be nice to sleep in our own beds tonight, won't it?"

Lora gave her that dumbfounded stare again, her hair somehow looking big and her body somehow looking small, like she was shrinking.

"No," she said.

Mom's hand landed on Rory's arm.

"She's been living here, hun," Mom said. "Just let her stay. This is home for all of us."

"Not our home," Rory said. "We have our own house. It's not far. It's not like I'm taking her away."

"I don't want to go anywhere with you," Lora said.

Rory looked at Mom for help, but she had the same expression Lora did, like she was shrinking, like she couldn't believe what she just heard. Mom recovered, hiding whatever upset her now, but Lora was spinning out.

"You can't just walk into our lives and change everything," Lora shouted.

Luke took off his glasses and lifted his hands as if that would calm everything down.

"Nothing is changing," Rory said, bewildered that Lora was so venomous about something so normal. Lora stayed with Mom and Luke while she was away, then they went home together when she got back. That was _normal_.

"You don't know what our normal is." Lora stood up, chair scraping on the linoleum. "You pop in whenever you get bored. You weren't there when Grandma got sick, you weren't there for anything!"

"What?" Rory felt like she was shrinking now.

Luke stood up and waved a hand to get Lora's attention. Those huge eyes found him, swimming in tears again, and for the first time Rory saw her little girl like back when she thought she got lost in the grocery store in Hartford and was standing in the coffee aisle spinning in circles, hair whirling, crying because no one she knew was nearby.

Lora focused on Luke. He pushed his chair against the table.

"Let's go finish up fixing the deck," he said, then looked at Rory, shaking his head. "Your mom dropped a bowling ball."

Lora laughed a little, sniffing.

"What were you doing with a bowling ball?" Rory asked.

"I joined a bowling league." Mom waved a hand.

"For how long?" Rory asked, laughing now too.

"A week. I wasn't very good."

Luke nodded at them as he led Lora to the front door.

"She's fixing things?" Rory asked Mom once they were alone.

"Luke has her fixing things." Mom confirmed.

Rory studied her, really looked at her since being back. Mom looked older. Well, she _was_ 64\. It was hard to think of her as _older_, but here she sat with some definite wrinkles, lots of gray hair – even if it was curled – and just a little less weight than when they last saw each other. Was it really 10 months ago?

Maybe she had been gone too long this last time.

"Mom," Rory got her attention. Those electric eyes found hers, wary but dancing. They were always dancing. She probably had a song stuck in her head. "You were sick?"

Mom wiped salt off her hands and leaned back, fanning her _Talking Heads_ t-shirt against another hot flash.

"I was a little sick," she said.

Rory waited but Mom started tearing at her napkin.

"With what?"

"I was doing inventory at the Inn," Mom said, tearing another piece off her paper napkin. "It was late. Sookie had just said goodbye for another six months so people were cleaning the kitchen. She'll be back in December, you know."

"I know." Rory was scared of where this was going.

"And I had this pain."

"Pain?"

"In my chest." Mom looked at the ceiling. Her eyes were bright and the skin around them was red. "They said it was a small heart attack."

Rory tried to keep her breathing steady, placing her hands flat on the table on either side of her plate. This wasn't happening. Not her mom. Her mom was young. Her mom was always going to be young. This happened to Richard Gilmore, not her mom.

"They said it was small, nothing to worry about," Mom said. "I just have to take some medication now. A pill every morning and nothing to worry about."

"That's not 'nothing to worry about.'" Rory closed her mouth because she was mad, mad that no one told her. "Why did no one tell me?"

"You were away," Mom said. "You were having a huge moment. The movie of your big book was coming out and I didn't want to ruin that for you."

"I thought Lora just didn't want to come." Rory tried not to shout.

"Well, it happened a bit before the premiere," Mom said slowly.

"When?"

"About four months ago. Lora was upset about me being sick, upset that we decided not to tell you right away, and upset that we were still going to be there for you because we were still going to go."

"And?" Rory felt like she was having a heart attack.

"She ran off."

Rory had no words. It was too much information. She stood up and folded her arms.

"What?" she shouted, she just couldn't help it now.

"Might as well tell you all of it." Mom put her hands up, like she had just wiped them clean. "Lora ran off with a boy."

"What boy?" Rory was seeing red.

"Her boyfriend, at the time. Aaron Banyan."

"Since when was she dating one of the Banyan boys? _Why_ was she dating a Banyan boy? And which one?"

"Aaron is a good kid, actually. He is more like his mom, who married into the family. They're the same age, grew up together. He's been to the house. You've met him."

Rory snorted, then stopped pacing, not even sure when she started pacing.

"Has she had,,,?"

Mom was already nodding.

"But she's on the pill," Mom said. "She was on the pill long before she ran off with Aaron."

Rory didn't know what she was doing, but she threw open the back door and stomped off the porch into the dark. She heard her mom running after her.

"Don't follow me!" Rory shouted, not wanting her mom to walk however long it was to the Banyan neighborhood. She knew they all lived along the same street, the kids buying up the houses once they went to market and were old enough to help bring the neighborhood down another notch. Trash. The Banyan family was trash. The fact that anyone from the family touched her daughter made her own skin crawl and the fact that one had _run off_ with Lora when Lora was supposed to be there for her mom, make sure she didn't have another heart attack, made her want to break something.

Her ears filled with rushing blood as her heart raced, barely registering the crunch and scuff of her shoes on the road, but soon she saw the stray cats and loose dogs and just started screaming. For Stars Hollow, this was the bad street. The Banyan family was the bad seed. Taylor had been trying for _years_ to get rid of them. For the first time, Rory wished he had succeeded. The Banyon's weren't funny or just annoying anymore.

"Aaron Banyan!" She marched down the middle of the street, feeling crazy, but was just so angry. "You get out here. Aaron Banyan!"

A screen door creaked and bounced. Porch lights flickered on and there at a house to her left stood a tall boy with floppy blond hair. He was cute. Of course he was cute.

She fisted her hands.

"Aaron, go back inside, it's okay," Mom bee-lined in front of her, waving the boy away.

"Lorelai, are you okay?" he called, jumping over a porch step on his way to them, moving a little fast.

"You stay away from my daughter." Rory pointed at him over Mom's shoulder, ignoring her wide eyes and hands as she tried to keep her where she was.

Aaron was close now, focused on Lorelai as if he was evaluating, making sure she wasn't about to fall over, before paying Rory any mind.

"Why are you out here?" he asked.

"To … tell you to stay away from Lora." Rory suddenly felt stupid. Never did she think she'd fly off the handles when she learned her daughter was dating boys and … doing other things with boys. For the first time, she realized even though her mom was awkward when she started dating Dean and did … other things with Dean … Mom still played it cooler than she was right now.

If Mom had ever stood in the middle of the street screaming for Dean or Jess to come out and face her, Rory would have never spoken to her about anything again.

"We broke up," the Banyan boy said.

Rory stared at him. Then nodded.

"Okay then." Her face burned. "Have a good night then."

She stomped away, running her hands through her hair. She heard Mom saying something to Aaron before scrambling to catch up.

"Hey," Aaron called and they both stopped. "Rory, welcome back. I'm glad to see you. Lora needs her mom."

He walked away from them, skipping that second porch step and disappearing back into that grimy house. The screen door bounced and a dog started barking.

"Did I just look crazier than the Banyan's?" Rory asked.

Mom wrapped an arm over her shoulders.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, you did. And you got lectured by one too."

"Mom." Rory leaned into her, staring down at her beat up tennis shoes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been missing everything."

Mom smiled, really smiled. It made her eyes brighten back up, made her wrinkles smooth out, made her hair look a little darker again.

"I've missed you, kid," she said and it felt like the most genuine thing she's heard since she came home, which she had no intention to leave for a very long time.

As they started walking back down the road, Rory wrapped an arm around her mom's waist.

"How did you get Lora to come back after she ran away?" Rory asked.

"I looked a lot like you did just now."

Mom always knew what to say to make her feel better.

O


	7. Chapter 7

**Episode 7: Miracle Pill**

The anti-heart attack, anti-another hospitalization pill was small for the job it had to do.

Lorelai stared at it as it sat on a coffee stained napkin on the counter, the house the kind of quiet that made her miss Paul Anka. Usually by now if she was up early, his little dog nails would clack on the hardwood floors or he would be sitting at her feet watching her with those "what are you doing, hooman?" eyes.

Now, she looked down and just saw her bunny slippers. They looked dirty.

She drew her robe closer and picked up her water glass and napkin with that super important pill and tip-toed out the front door, settling onto the porch swing.

Last night was bad. She knew Rory coming home would be bad, but that was almost all of the information-came-out-at-one-time bad. Rory got the nutshell, the quick Hollywood recap of a bad heart and a kid acting out for attention. Though Rory seemed better, or at least calmer, when they got back to the house, she was still tight-lipped and cold-shouldery.

If only Rory knew just how terrifying it had been for Lora to run off with that Banyan boy. The kid was nice enough, polite enough, genuinely a great guy and not much like the rest of the Banyan clan, but he would do just about anything Lora asked and that's what scared Lorelai. Lora was _her_. And she had quite the track record for acting out. She knew what it was like to have a boy love her that much that young.

Really, Lorelai felt she handled it well … at least better than Emily would have handled it if she ran away with Christopher at 16 years old.

The front door opened and a second pair of bunny slippers plodded across the painted planks. Lora balanced between her hands a mug in the shape of Lucille Ball's head, the handle made from a ribbon hanging in Lucy's red hair, Lora passed it to her and she took a sip of shockingly cold coffee.

"Straight from the pot from last night?" she asked.

Lora nodded, her hair slipping over half her face like chocolate syrup being squeezed from the bottle. It curled across her forehead and cheek, pale like vanilla ice cream.

"Can I ask you something?" Lorelai passed the mug back.

Lora took it and curled her legs up against her chest, pulling her Metallica PJs down to cover her slender ankles. Lorelai saw goosebumps and leaned against her to keep her right side warm.

"Ask away," Lora said into the mug, slurping.

"What happened with you and Aaron?" Lorelai asked. "You two ran off together and then that's it? Was it something I did?"

Lorelai had been thinking back to when she found them holed up in his aunt's basement in Chicago, wondering if she barged in too loudly, too abruptly, and scared Aaron away from Lora. She really didn't mind Aaron. Lora dragged _him_ off because she didn't think Rory deserved to have anyone there for her big moment when she wasn't there for Lorelai at the hospital or any other time in, well … Lora had a lot of good reasons for being mad at Rory. She just knew Lorelai would run after her if she ran away and she had been right. But Lorelai was tough on Lora, not Aaron.

"You did nothing wrong, Grandma." Lora's eyes were huge, like the oversized chocolate kisses Lorelai liked to use as decorations around the house in February around Valentine's Day. "How do you feel bad about anything? I'm the one who messed up."

"I don't want to drive you away again or ruin things between you and Aaron," Lorelai admitted. "Even Luke likes him."

"You didn't drive me off," Lora said. "I told you. I was mad at Mom and I took it out on all of you and I hate myself for that. As for Aaron, he thinks he isn't good enough."

"Did he meet my mom?" Lorelai joked.

Lora snorted.

"We'll be fine, I think," Lora said, leaning her head on Lorelai's shoulder. "He's my Luke."

"Or your Dean."

"My least favorite character in Mom's book," Lora laughed into her mug, then tapped the napkin on Lorelai's lap. "Miracle pill."

"Miracle pill." Lorelai popped it in her mouth and washed it down with a swig of cold coffee.

The clatter of a coffee pot being put back in the machine echoed out of the windows, followed by the toaster being used.

"That's Rory," Lorelai said.

Lora groaned. Lorelai got up and pulled her with along.

"Good morning," Lorelai sang as she opened the door, pushing Lora in front of her.

Rory put pop tarts on a napkin and tried to hand it to Lora, who veered around it for her room and a mumble about getting ready for school. Lorelai took the napkin instead and sat at the kitchen table.

"So, what's today look like? Meet for lunch?" Rory asked Lorelai but stared after Lora who shut her bedroom door and turned on Dio.

"Meet me at the Inn," Lorelai said, eyeing Rory who stood frozen, distant. "Are you working on the book today?"

That woke her up a little. She took a seat too, looking drained, like a faucet had been turned on under her chin and took away her color.

"Settle back in at the house," she said.

"Stay here!"

"I'm settling us both back in at the house."

"Oh. Does she know?"

"Not yet."

"Does she know why you're back?"

"… Not yet."

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all for the comments! This is my first Gilmore Girls fic and had no idea so many people still love it as much as I do. For those who read along with my other fic, you know how much I love comments. Comments feed the writing monster, so more comments means the more I'll update. Let me know what you like or what you'd like to see happen. I have it planned out already but take suggestions too. Happy reading!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Episode 8: That same old rumor mill**

The common area at Stars Hollow High was packed. Lora perched at the edge of big carpeted stairs overlooking the space, her backpack tucked under one arm as she searched the faces of the people crushing in on her, but none belonged to Aaron Banyan.

Lora smoothed the gorgeous green dress she nicked from Grandma's "memory" closet, where Grandma kept old clothes that she liked to look at when she was nostalgic over the days when she was young and skinny, though Lora always reminded her she wasn't fat now.

But this dress fit her like it was made for her. And she had to look stunning today if her plan to get Aaron back was going to work.

She slid out of the jacket she had used to hide what she was wearing on her way out of the house this morning, which Grandpa didn't notice at all, and looked down to make sure she looked as good in the dress as she did in the mirror after putting it on. The cleavage was good, so she puffed her chest out a little more and flipped her hair over her shoulders, scanning for Aaron again.

"Hey, Richard." Someone hopped up to sit next to her.

She jumped.

"Make a noise," she scolded, smoothing her dress again.

"I did," Mike Forester said, slipping his backpack off. She felt those green eyes scanning her and she shifted, uncomfortable, because she didn't look like this for him. "Quoting _Rosemary's Baby_?"

"Quoting my mom, actually," Lora said. "Ever read her book? I think your dad's in it."

When he didn't answer, she glanced at him. He seemed stuck between amused and offended, which probably meant he hated his dad's part in _Gilmore Girls_ but still liked her. She studied him as she waited for him to figure out his words, not about to make this easy for him. The bright morning leaking in through the windows near the arched ceiling glinted off his honey hair, which curled ever so slightly at the ends and made it look like unpolished gold. She reached out and touched it, fascinated by the glitter, and he smiled.

He had dimples.

His fingers were warm on her hand as he pulled her out of his hair. But he held on. His thumb rubbed her skin in circles and she saw him swallow hard like when she had looked back at him before disappearing into the principal's office.

"Looks like Lora's found a new boy to bang!"

She spun around and saw Ryan McDoosherson standing with his other football teammates, all of them staring and laughing at her and Mike. It didn't go over her head either how McDoosherson stared a little too long at her in this stupid dress.

"Go rut in the mud with your pigs, Ryan," Lora shouted back at him.

Every last inch of laughter evaporated from McDoosherson's face. She stood as he stomped toward her, shoving his jacket sleeves up to his elbows.

Mike leapt forward too but someone else grabbed McDoosherson from behind, jerking him around before slugging him in the face. The Great McDoosherson toppled to the floor, sliding a little, and Lora saw Aaron standing there looking all Banyan Badass and fuming.

The bell rang.

The crowd that had gathered already started gossiping as they broke off for classes, whispers and laughter skipping above their heads like an ugly cloud. Aaron started moving toward her, worry behind that tossed-about hair, when Mike stepped between them, towering and bulky.

"You okay?" he asked.

She stared at him like he had grown a third eye.

"No one touched me," she said.

"But what he said," Mike trailed off.

"He's said worse." She moved around him, searching for Aaron, but he was gone.

O

Aaron always spent lunch in the old empty ceramics room. Stars Hollow High got rid of the class in budget cuts however long ago, but no one bothered locking it up. Lora looked around at the boxes of outdated textbooks and drama costumes. At best, this dusty classroom with its shoved-aside pottery wheels was just a storage room now.

She sat on her coat spread out across the floor, drawing smiley faces in the leftover clay dust, and then checked on the food she picked up from Luke's Diner. The coffee was still hot. Good.

The door opened and there he stood, blond hair sticking in his face and sugary stubble along his cleft chin glinting in the LED lights overhead. He studied her for a moment before letting the door shut behind him with a click and then joined her on the floor.

She handed him a coffee.

"Four creams, just like you like it," she said.

He shook his head at her and took a sip. She saw a bruise on his knuckles.

"Did you get in trouble?" she asked.

"McDoosherson said you instigated it." Aaron's blue eyes were piercing, serious, still angry, but not at her. "Pretty sure you're going to get in trouble too."

She sighed and smoothed her dress, glad again that she snagged it from Grandma's closet but frustrated because aside from looking good she didn't know what else to do to get Aaron back. She drew a circle in the clay dust, thinking.

"You didn't have to do that," she said. "I was handling it."

"Come on, Doll," he said. "You know I'm always going to stand up for you. No one is going to treat you like that, not if I can help it."

She stared at him, wondering how he ever thought he wasn't good enough. If anything, she wasn't good enough for him.

Lora took the coffee cup from him, setting it on the floor and got on her knees in front of him, tangling her hands in his hair.

"Lora," he said and it sounded like he was going to remind her they weren't together, remind her that he wasn't right for her, but a smile curled those lips. That same damn smile. "I've missed you."

And she kissed him, really kissed him, as she fumbled at his pants for a zipper. He hummed into her mouth, that happy hum, the hum that got her to do so many things, and he pushed up her dress.

O

Lora looked at her reflection in the school bathroom mirror, the lights highlighting the blotchiness in her cheeks which only happened when she exerted herself. She smiled at that and ran her hands through her hair, trying to smooth it out again. Her dress was crooked and dotted with clay dust smudges. She wondered how she'd get it clean and back in Grandma's closet before anyone noticed it was gone.

At least it had done the trick. She thought anyway. The bell rang for class before they had a chance to really talk about trying out a relationship again.

Aaron had helped her gather her things, pulled her in for a long, intoxicating kiss, hands hot on her lower back, before slipping back into the hallway.

And here she was trying to salvage her appearance so she didn't look like she just had sex. _Really_ good sex.

"So I hear you want to do my brother."

Lora jumped, gripping the edges of the sink, and glared at her smeared mascara, tired of people sneaking up on her. She looked over her shoulder in the mirror and saw a girl somehow even taller than her slamming her backpack on the counter behind her and pulling out a lipstick. She was gorgeous in a punk, in-your-face kinda way. The girl had cut her hair up to her ears, which were lined in gems and precious metals.

"We were in elementary school together for a while, Richard," the girl said.

Lora just stared.

"I'm Mike's twin sister," she said, applying bright red lipstick like a pro. "Britney. We played together all the time. I called you my best friend."

"Britney!" Lora remembered now and turned to face her. "How are you?"

Britney turned too, leaning back on the counter, looking fierce and intimidating.

"A little insulted you remembered Mike, but not me." She smiled and it didn't look friendly. "Don't worry though. Everyone wants to do my brother."

And with that she grabbed her bag and was out the bathroom, a tall, overly-confident blur.

Lora turned back to her mirror and stared at her messed-up self. At least that wasn't a new rumor, or even really a wrong one, but she hoped Aaron didn't take it seriously when he heard it. Just because Mike was cute didn't mean she still didn't want to have Aaron as her boyfriend again.

"Lora Gilmore, to the principal's office," the intercom crackled.

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for the comments! Keep them coming! _


	9. Chapter 9

**Episode 9: A change is a comin'**

"This is still the beginning of the school year."

"Yes, it is."

"She has been to my office twice this week."

"…I didn't know that."

"I don't know what the living situation is at home, but something has to change."

Rory stared at the principal. Mr. Howard was a rumpled man in rumpled generic dress pants and a rumpled off-brand button down shirt that looked tinted blue in the LED lights overhead. That or he washed his cheap white shirt with something blue, like another cheap shirt or some cheap blue socks. Rory glanced over at Lora who sat slumped in the chair next to her wearing Mom's old green dress that was also rumpled and caked in white dust.

She looked like a mess.

She looked like she had just been with a boy.

Rory had been having trouble focusing on Mr. Howard's lecture to them both until he mentioned the "living situation at home." Like there was anything wrong at home.

"Mr. Howard, things are fine at home," Rory said, her tone strict and protective and damnit, she wasn't going to get told by someone else that she was a bad mother. "Work takes me away sometimes, but that's it. Her family life is just about perfect."

Mr. Howard flipped open a manila folder and adjusted his glasses, eyebrows raising as he tried to read the notes.

"Last year, Lora had detention twenty-five times and was detained by police after getting into a fight with Ryan McDowdan, a member of the football team," he read.

Lora snorted and folded her arms.

Rory shook her head, trying to process that because Mom said Lora had some detention but not that she got into a fight.

"Why does it matter that he was on the football team?" she asked, swallowing to hide that she didn't even know.

"You're pretty prominent, Ms. Gilmore," he said. "I believe you left to help write the end of your movie script around the time your daughter got into that fight. What was that? Ten months ago? And around the time of your movie premiere, your daughter disappeared for three weeks."

"I knew she ran away," Rory tried to cut in. Three weeks? She looked at Lora again, who had her head back on the chair and stared at the ceiling like she was bored and that made Rory so mad. How could she be so selfish?

"She missed so much school while she was 'away,' as you put it, that now she has to redo some of her classes," Mr. Howard said. "Those are her core classes. That's English, math, and science."

"I know what core classes are." Rory turned on Lora then. "School is easy for you. How could you let this happen?"

Lora turned those big brown eyes on her again, so shocked, so different than how Rory wanted her to look. Lora should be hanging her head, should be apologizing, should be saying something to fight her way to the top of her class, anything. That's what Rory would be doing in her shoes. No, Rory wouldn't _be_ in her shoes because she never missed _three weeks _of school.

"My point, Ms. Gilmore," Howard talked over whatever Lora's open mouth was about to say. "Is that the pattern I'm seeing is directly a result of you being away and now you coming back. Something needs to change at home because this is textbook."

"Textbook of what?" Rory was fuming. She could barely breathe she was so mad.

"Acting out for attention. For _your_ attention, I think."

"That's not what I'm doing." Lora said, finally saying something. "I don't want her around. I don't want anything to do with her."

It was Rory's turn to stare.

"And I didn't do anything today. I had nothing to do with Ryan McDoosherson getting punched. It was him who came at me and someone stopped him from grabbing me."

"He says you jumped up to hit him, like you did the first time the two of you got into a fight."

"He's lying."

"Based on your history, I'm going to have to give you a month's worth of detention."

"What?" Lora was sitting up now, hair flying, like she had any reason to be angry.

"I think that's fair," Rory said.

Those eyes again. Those huge, shocked eyes.

"You're lucky the McDowdan's aren't pressing charges," Mr. Howard said, slamming Lora's file shut.

O

Being back at Stars Hollow High was a twisted trip down memory lane. Rory hadn't stepped back in these halls since she packed up her locker to leave for Chilton and never thought she'd be back just to get her kid from the principal's office, let alone a lecture too.

She marched down the hall to the exit, bumping into teens anxious to get out of the building. Lora slinked beside her, quiet and scrunch-faced, shoulders curled forward like she didn't want anyone to see her.

"Nice walk of shame, Lora," a boy shouted out, followed by laughter.

Rory stopped and stared. The boy wore the football team's blue and white jacket, had short, gelled brown hair and was licking his lips as he stared back. The boys around him wore the same jacket, clapping each other on the back as they laughed like what he said was hilarious.

"Hey, back off," Rory shouted, shouldering her way in front of Lora, ready to unleash all of her anger out on this jerk.

"Mom, it's fine," Lora said, a hand touching her elbow as if to guide her outside.

"You don't talk to my daughter like that," Rory shouted. "Do you understand me?"

"She's just lucky my dad isn't pressing charges," he said and then tapped a dark smudge under his left eye.

Rory's stomach clenched. This must by the McDowdan kid.

"But you know, it's mostly just me doing her a favor," he said and Rory felt Lora freeze. "For old time's sake." He winked at Lora and bit his lip, which made Rory want to throw up because there's no way Lora and him had any history. No way.

Rory grabbed Lora by the arm and hauled her outside, blinking in the sun and trying to breathe.

"What did he mean, 'for old time's sake'?" Rory asked as she all but frog-marched Lora to the car.

Lora shrugged her hand away and stopped just in front of the Toyota, arms folded and looking about as ashamed and guilty as Mom whenever trouble with men came up. Rory almost felt bad, but the frustration of having so many gaps to fill in on her daughter's life kept her blood pressure boiling.

"He was my first boyfriend," Lora admitted with the same angry shout that Mom would let out to Emily Gilmore when pressed too hard on a topic. It made Rory shut her mouth because she didn't want that same relationship and it suddenly horrified her that it might be the same, or worse.

"I thought that Banyan boy was your boyfriend, or used to be." Rory glanced at the staring students.

"McDoosherson was my first, all of two years ago," Lora said. "Let's see. It started at a party the night you left to go visit your friend Paris and stayed at her place to 'do book research' on a new novella for a month, two months? Or was it three?"

"Don't blame this on me," Rory said.

They stared at each other, both fuming.

Rory started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Lora demanded.

"I don't know." Rory ran her hands through her hair and shook her head. "Maybe I've been too focused on other things. Maybe I've not been around like I should have been, but guess what? I'm here now and things are going to change."

Lora had those huge eyes again, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck.

"I packed your stuff up while you were at school and moved it back into our house."

Lora opened her mouth to shout but nothing came out.

"And I'm doing 'book research' here at home now," Rory said. "I'm working from home so you're stuck with me for a long time, okay? No more of this running away when you're not happy, no more of this acting out. You have attention now, kid."

"I'm not moving out of Grandma's house." Lora shook her head and a curl broke loose of her mane, sticking up at an angle. From her knotted hair to her smeared makeup and crooked dress, she looked more like a raven-haired Little Orphan Annie than a teen in the fast lane for every wrong choice in the book.

Rory felt like an idiot. For the first time, she saw how much she had needed to be here.

"You're already moved," Rory said.

Lora backed away from her.

"No." Rory stepped after her. "Get in the car. We're going home."

Lora stared at her, challenging her, but after a moment flipped her hair and stomped to the car. Rory stared at the high school as she heard the car door slam shut, sighed in relief and started planning her book about all of this. Maybe it should start with her finding out she was pregnant, or at the hospital, or maybe this moment as she got in the car and buckled herself in.

O


	10. Chapter 10

**Episode 10: Hey, Mom**

The house was a sad kinda quiet.

Lorelai shut her front door and looked at the coat rack. Lora's dozens of jackets, scarves and hats were gone. Lorelai dropped her purse on the rung that used to hold Lora's red overcoat, the one she used to spin around in because it flared at the bottom. After a moment, Lorelai stepped into the house, first into the living room. Lora's backpack wasn't on the floor. The blanket was gone too, the one that Lorelai sewed for her, made up of a mixture of old t-shirts that were her own, Rory's and Lora's. It was always folded neatly along the back of the couch because Lora took care of the things she loved. She treated them like gold.

"Luke?" Lorelai called out, but knew from the hollow feeling between these walls that he must still be at the diner.

Lorelai walked into the kitchen and nudged Lora's bedroom door open. Her desk was cleared off, her bookshelves emptied, her closet barren except for a couple of Lorelai's camisoles. She smiled because Lora must have stolen those from her "memory" closet in the hallway upstairs where the clothes that didn't fit her anymore were hanging in garment bags or boxed up. Lorelai touched the camis dangling from one end of their hangars, like Rory had been in a rush to grab it all but not thorough enough to double check that she had actually taken everything.

She sat down in the chair next to the dressing vanity and ran a hand over the gray and blue armrest, frayed from when Lora set it on fire when Rory first left when _Gilmore Girls_ got picked up by a publisher. It had been exciting for Rory, a whirlwind of the start of fame, and little Lora got left behind somewhere in the chaos of moving her in and saying goodbye.

Lorelai can still smell the smoke like it was yesterday when she came back into the house and found a sobbing Lora with a box of matches on the floor. The chair had already caught, as had a rug. The rug was trash, but Lorelai patched the chair. Over the years, the patches changed. Now the spot was between patches, the ruined pieces exposed for the world to see.

It had been terrifying to see tiny Lora sitting in front of big flames, sitting there like she had no intention of moving ever again.

She was the kind of person who didn't like change. She hated it.

But then, Lorelai's fear that day Lora tried to set the house on fire was nothing like the day when no one could find her just a couple months ago.

_Miss Patty's was packed, not to mention hot and muggy as Taylor used a laser pointer on a map of the town – being held up by Kirk - to explain where the vendors for the Wild Flower Festival were going to set up. Kirk was flinching as Taylor swung the laser too high._

_ The crowd flinched when Taylor turned the laser on them, over-gesturing in his excitement._

_ "Now, folks, only decorate your vendors with wild flowers," he said._

_ "Watch where you point that thing, Taylor!" Gypsy shouted._

_ Lorelai was laughing as she munched on some fries from the diner when a hand brushed her shoulder and Luke suddenly crouched in the aisle next to her._

_ "Look, Luke," she pointed with a fry at the map. "I think Taylor blinded Kirk in one eye."_

_ "My eye!" Kirk was crying. "My eye, Taylor!"_

_ "I can't find Lora," Luke whispered._

_ "Did you check the kitchen at the Spa?" she asked. "Lora loves Winnie. She's probably just drinking coffee and learning how to cuss in British."_

_ Luke was shaking his head._

_ "She's not there," he said. "I've looked everywhere, the Inn, the barn. I can't find her."_

_ "Well, she's been dating Aaron for almost a year now." Lorelai sat up. "I bet she's at his house."_

_ "She isn't there, either."_

_ Lorelai stood, setting her fries on her chair._

_ "Hey, everyone," she called._

_ "Lorelai, I'm presenting," Taylor objected._

_ "Has anyone seen Lora?" Lorelai braced her chest with a hand, regretting her choice of fries. She really needed to eat better._

_ "Honey, I saw her earlier with that Banyan boy." Miss Patty was up and hobbling over to her, that cane so bedazzled it nearly blinded her as much as Taylor's laser pointer blinded Kirk. "They were just walking down the street."_

_ "In which direction?" Luke asked._

_ "How long ago?" Lorelai tried to slow her breathing._

_ "That must have been when school got out a few hours ago," Miss Patty said. "I thought they were just headed to Luke's Diner, like always."_

_ Lorelai was already pulling Luke behind her, rushing down the stairs outside. The fresh air helped her chest pain ease a bit. She had her phone out, bouncing on her heels, anxiety making her fidget._

_ "Answer your phone, answer your phone," she mumbled._

_ "I tried calling her," Luke said. "Her voicemail is full."_

_ "The person you have dialed is not available," said an automatic voice in her ear. "Their voicemail box is full. Bye."_

_ Lorelai hung up and started marching down the street, dialing the Banyan's old landline number, one of the last in town to still even have one. She breathed faster as it rang and rang and rang._

_ Luke was pulling her off the sidewalk, into his truck, shutting the door._

_ She hung up and dialed it again, so scared she couldn't see straight. The truck rumbled awake as Luke switched it on._

_ "Go to his house," she said, her voice shaking._

_ He was already nodding and her phone just kept spouting the same _ring, ring, ring_._

_ Lorelai was almost in tears by the time they reached the Banyan neighborhood, her door already open as Luke pulled into the pitted driveway. Several cats darted into the shadows and the motion sensor lights flipped on. Lorelai tripped on the broken second step, but Luke and the handrail saved her from slamming her face on the porch._

_ "Mrs. Banyan!" she shouted just before opening the screen door to knock on the peeling paint of the hardwood door behind it. "Mrs. Banyan, are you home?"_

_ "Hang on!" a voice shouted from inside, muffled by walls and maybe a little bit of alcohol._

_ Lorelai stepped back, waiting impatiently, bouncing around, rubbing a hand on her sternum, breathing through the chest pain. Luke was staring at her. He looked really scared and hurt and like he was going to cry because that hospital stay had been the scariest thing for him and she hated that, hated that he was ever that scared, as scared as he was now as he stared at her, hands out like he needed catch her if she fell._

_ The door creaked and a plume of cigarette smoke billowed into the night. Luke waved it away from them both._

_ "Lorelai?" Erica Banyan squinted up at her through the haze. "It's late, girl."_

_ "I know that," Lorelai said, voice shaking again. "Is Lora here?"_

_ "Lora?" Erica snorted and took a drag on her cigarette, the tip lighting red in the night. "I haven't even seen Aaron in two days, girl. Why would Lora be here if Aaron hasn't been here?"_

_ Lorelai was shaking her head and shoved past her, delving into the putrid shadows of the Banyan house, shouting Lora's name as she stepped over heaps of garbage and used plates._

_ "Lora?" She was crying. The tears were hot. She didn't want to call Rory about this. She had to deal with this so Rory didn't have to worry. Lorelai kicked open the door to Aaron's room, a place she had found them so many times before when they were kids playing with Legos and then when they got older and things got messier. No one was inside though. The bed was made, neat like always because Aaron cared about his stuff, and the window was wide open._

_ Cat Stevens stared back at her._

_ "Where would they go?" she turned to Erica who leaned on the hallway wall, puffing smoke out like a chimney._

_ "I have a sister in Chicago," she said. "He's always talking about living with her to get away from his dad."_

_ Lorelai closed her eyes. She hated the Banyans more than anyone in town, hated them because she knew them too well after watching Lore and Aaron become best friends as kids and grow up together, saw how his family was never there except Erica sometimes, when she was aware enough to be there. Lorelai would have locked Lora up to keep her away from the whole lot except that Aaron was good, Aaron was like a lost puppy in rags that just loved Lora, worshipped her, and he had dreams. Lorelai could see him breaking free of his family._

_ But now was not the time, and not with Lora._

Lorelai wiped tears off her cheeks and pulled her cellphone from her pocket. The most unlikely person had helped her in those terrifying three weeks when she didn't know where Lora had gone.

She scrolled through her contacts, then pressed the green phone under one name.

It only rang twice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom." Lorelai smiled at walls, still decorated with Mr. Bean posters and ACDC drawings. Lora was the only artist in the family.

"Lorelai."

Lorelai could hear Emily smile as she said her name.

"Why are you calling so late?" Emily asked.

"Just wanted to see how you're doing," Lorelai said.

"My nurse is here," Emily said. "She says I'm the picture of good health."

"Of course you are. You're practically immortal, Mom. You're going to stay young forever."

Emily laughed and it sounded old, but for a 90-year-old it was still pretty young.

"So, guess what?" Lorelai pulled her legs up on the chair and stared out the dark window. "Rory's home."

O


	11. Chapter 11

**Episode 11: Dark side of Stars Hollow**

When Lora woke up, she panicked.

Her sheets didn't feel like her sheets. They didn't smell unwashed, weren't pilled from age and being cleaned alongside the towels. Her nightstand didn't have the same pineapple lamp from Psych, didn't have her faux-leopard print alarm clock, and her windows were on the wrong side of the room. Instead of the blue light of morning peeping in through the curtains on her left, there was unabashed sunlight pouring in from the circular window near the arched ceiling above the blackout curtains at her feet.

Lora shot out of bed, feet chilled on the gray-stained cedar hardwood, before remembering she wasn't home

She was at Rory's house.

Her room was a weird mix of toddler stuff and her stuff still boxed up from back home, which was only fifteen minutes away but felt like lightyears. She remembered coming to this place from Grandma's house for the first time when she was little, hating it here, and then being moved back into Grandma's house when Mom left again. She vaguely remembered lighting something on fire when everyone was saying goodbye to Mom outside.

It was never fun being dragged back to this place. She only ever "lived" here for a few weeks, maybe a couple months, before Mom had another trip, another meeting, another job and was gone again.

Lora sighed, swallowing her stress so it burned a hole in her stomach instead of knotting up in her throat, and then dug into the boxes to find something to wear today.

The door flung open and Lora spun around, a Grateful Dead sweatshirt in front of her as a shield. But it was just Mom, hair already done, makeup on, dressed and smelling of coffee. She sipped from a mug and plopped onto Lora's bed like they were best friends and it was weird.

It was very weird.

"Feels nice to be home, huh?" Rory asked, swinging a foot.

Lora stared for so many reasons. One, Mom never acted like this. Two, they weren't even friends. Three, she didn't even bring her some coffee like Grandma did if she barged in like this. Four, this wasn't her home, she hated it here. Five, what happened to her privacy?

"It's a little warm for sweatshirt weather," Rory said.

Lora kept staring, trying to process what was happening, if she woke up in a parallel dimension.

Rory hummed something, badly.

"Are you trying to hum the song 'Sweater Weather'?" Lora asked.

Rory grinned and sipped more coffee.

"Don't," Lora said.

As if picking up on the awkwardness, Rory slipped off the bed and stood in the doorway.

"I signed you up for a tutor after your detention today at school," she said and gave her a long look. "You better be there."

Lora kept staring as Rory said something about breakfast after she got dressed and shut the door behind her, leaving Lora alone again. She dropped her sweatshirt like it burned her, wanting to forget that moment ever happened, and then pulled out the first weather-appropriate clothes she could spot: white skinny jeans and a black sleeveless top. With her knee-high boots, Aaron would be pleased.

After checking herself in the mirror, she slipped under one of the blackout curtains and popped open a window. She slid into the bushes like she lived there fulltime.

O

"I swear to the old Valerian gods, I didn't do anything wrong." Lora held up her bacon like a rosary as she told Grandma about what happened between her, McDoosherson and Aaron and what landed her a month's worth of detention.

Grandma was leaning on an elbow, nodding as she bit into a donut, hair bouncing as she sided with her.

"Well, of course you didn't," she said, eyes glittering with offense. "McDoosherson had it coming. You better marry that Banyan boy or I might because he's your knight in shining armor."

Grandpa sat down, huffing as he straightened his ratted blue baseball hat so it sat backwards as usual. The morning rush was finally entering the first lull of the day.

"If Aaron didn't punch that kid, I would right now," Grandpa said. "I'd go find McDisherson-"

"McDoosherson," Lora and Grandma said together.

"-and knock the lights out of him," Grandpa kept going, steady and steamy just like a train. "He's just jealous and he's always going to be jealous that you left him. Because you're amazing."

Lora couldn't stop her grin and it was so huge on her face it hurt.

"It's true." Grandpa waved at Grandma for support. "Look, she's gorgeous like all you Gilmore women, smart as a whip just like all you Gilmore women, and sassy-"

"Just like all you Gilmore women," Lora and Grandma said with him.

He nodded.

"Exactly," he said and stared out the windows. "Here comes the next wave."

Just as the bell above the door chimed, the next morning crowd came in, led by Taylor with a clipboard.

"Oh, Lorelai," he started.

"I don't want speed limit signs all throughout town, Taylor," Grandma said. "I'm not signing that."

His head bobbed from side to side, eyes roving from Lora and then back to Grandma, weighing his options on an argument, Lora knew.

"Fine," he allowed and then zeroed in on Grandpa, who was already throwing his hands in the air.

"Seriously though." Grandma had her stern face now, chin down and eyes piercing straight into Lora's soul. "Want me to go set Howard straight? He's just siding with that kid's family because they're the rich ones in this town and that brat is the quarterback on the football team. Typical misogyny, that's what it is. Break out the torches and pitchforks!"

"No, just let it go." Lora shook her head. "Aaron was given two months of detention and I don't want him to get in more trouble. If we pitch a fit, you know Aaron is going to get worse than that, you just know it."

Grandma was nodding, but then squinted.

"I'll just key his fancy car," she said.

"Yeah, since you're always strolling through the school parking lot."

"I see him around town."

Someone pulled out a chair at their table and sat down.

It was Mom … _Rory_.

"So, you snuck out of the house," Rory said.

"Uh oh," Grandma said and Lora snorted at her tone. "Another month of detention for you."

"This is serious." Rory turned on Grandma. "She is causing trouble at school."

"Oh come on, Rory," Grandma said. "Do you even know what happened?"

Rory had her mouth open, but nothing came out.

"On that note, I'm going to school." Lora stole the rest of Grandma's donut, kissed her on the side of the head and bounded out the door.

O

After a day of being picked on by McDoosherson, of looking around for Aaron and not finding him, Lora found herself sitting in class again as the hallways emptied and the building settled down to bookworms still at the library, teachers grading papers, and then these misfits heaving a sigh of dread as Mr. Gregson shut the door.

"No talking," he told the detention detainees, standing behind his desk with his beefy arms folded. "No looking around. Just do your homework. We have an hour in here, folks."

Lora leaned against the wall that her desk was pressed against and crossed her legs. She had left Rory's house in such a rush this morning that she forgot her phone and it had been driving her crazy all day. Not seeing Aaron was not a good sign.

But as if he was summoned by her very thoughts, the door squeaked open and he appeared, all tall and shouldery, blond hair thrown across half his face leaving just that cleft chin visible as he gave his "bro" nod to Mr. Gregson. The by-day math teacher, by-night detention supervisor, just pointed for him to sit down.

Aaron surveyed the room and then spotted her.

She gaped, breathing quickening as he bee-lined for the desk in the row next to her.

He had one hell of a shiner. The eye he was trying to hide with his hair was too swollen, the bruise too huge to conceal. He sat and she caught the wince. His dad must have really gone at him. She peeked at Mr. Gregson, praying that he noticed and called the cops because how can anyone ignore this, but also prayed he didn't see because she didn't want Aaron to go away, to go into some group home until he was eighteen in another county.

She tried to catch Aaron's attention, but he wouldn't look at her. Instead, he reached out and found her hand, giving it a squeeze that he was okay.

Fighting back tears, wishing she had her phone to text her grandparents because Grandpa needed to set Aaron's dad straight again, she ripped a sheet of paper from a notebook and scribbled on it.

_Why?_

She folded it up and passed it over, watching as he slowly jotted his answer. She took it back with a sweaty hand.

_He didn't want me getting into fights at school anymore_, was his response.

She bit out some words her great-grandma would have dropped her martini at hearing.

"Ms. Gilmore," Gregson scolded, looking up through his out-of-control eyebrows.

Lora caught Aaron's grin. That same damn grin.

After soaking in the curl of his mouth for a bit, she bent back over her desk.

_Be my boyfriend again_, she wrote and passed the note.

His grin disappeared.

_I love you, Doll_, he wrote back. _I'm always yours, but you can do better than me. Find someone better than me._

And that's what made her cry.

O

"You don't look so good," Mike said as she walked into the tutoring room, which was just a sectioned-off part of the library.

Lora wiped the back of her hand across her cheek. When she brought it away, it was smeared with tears and mascara.

"Thanks a lot," she said as she fell into a chair across from Mike. "Why are you here?"

"I'm a tutor," he said, too cheery for her taste. "I guess your tutor, since you're on the list for today."

"Great."

"Or I can get someone else."

"Don't bother."

He looked more than a little pathetic, tall but somehow small with his hands in his lap, floppy hair flipped everywhere like a smattering of horns, and lost eyes.

Lora rolled hers and dropped her science textbook on the table between them, which drew more than a few stares from people actually studying.

"I'm behind," she said. "I understand the material, I'm just behind."

"Then lets catch you up." He had a big grin, with lots of teeth.

She opened the book and pulled out her notes. When he stayed quiet for too long, she glanced up. He was blushing.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Can I ask you out?" he blurted.

"I don't know," she was monotone. "Can you?"

"Lora, will you go to dinner with me?" There was that toothy smile again.

She studied those dimples, the blond and brown in his hair, the green in his eyes, the way his nose was a little too perfect and pointed.

"No," she said.

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all for the comments! Those comments motivate me to write more!_


	12. Chapter 12

**Episode 12: Jealousy's a thing**

"I had the whole morning planned out," Rory told her mom, reaching over to drink her coffee.

"Luke, we need more coffee!" Mom shouted over her shoulder in response.

"We were going to have pop tarts, I was going to tell her about my new project, and we were going to meet you here because breakfast at Luke's is a you-and-me thing and I'd like it to also be a her-and-me thing," Rory ranted.

"'A you-and-me' thing?" Mom laughed and then whined over her shoulder, "Luke, coffee!" before facing her with confusion. "Breakfast is just a thing the we do, Rory. It's not a you-and-me thing. I've been raising Lora when you're not around, so it is a her-and-me thing too. This is where the food is."

"Well, I was going to bring her," Rory defended. "I don't feel connected to her and I hate that."

"Well."

"I always thought by the time she was sixteen, we'd have what you and I have."

"Rory."

"You seem to have that with her. I want to spend more time with her so that I can have that too."

"I've never taken her from you."

Rory felt the bite in those words and sat up.

"What, you're mad that she's at home now?" Rory asked.

"I miss her."

"Well, she's home."

Mom pulled her purse over her shoulder slowly, like it hurt to move her arms, lips pursed over something else she obviously wanted to say but was weighing whether or not she should.

After a moment, she looked at Rory with those angry eyes, the kind that made her wrinkles stand out more.

"She _was_ home, kid," Mom said and put her hands out, huffing. "Can I just say something? Because I'm your mom and you need some advice on parenting and maybe I should have said this years ago."

"I don't need advice."

"Then some unwanted advice."

"I don't want it."

"Well, that's why it's called 'unwanted,' kid."

"Stop calling me that."

"You've been so good at so many things in your life, Rory, but…."

"What, now you're saying I'm a bad mom? I'm tired of hearing that from you because you and Grandma have said it before."

"When did my mom say that to you?"

"Right before the premiere. It must have been when Lora ran away. She didn't say Lora ran away, but she sure made me feel like a steaming pile of crap for not being in Stars Hollow."

Mom actually looked impressed.

"You're glad she made me feel like that?"

"No, but this isn't about you anymore, Rory." Mom shook her head, searching the diner walls for something, maybe words. "Lora is in the mix now and she is a handful, let me tell you."

"I'm getting that."

"You should have already known. I've been protecting you so you have a chance at your dream but I should have been protecting her more."

Rory couldn't believe it.

"As much as I hate that-"

"That she's come between us?"

"-that I can't be on your side for this, I have something to say."

Rory waited, fuming, imagining real billows of steam jetting out of her ears.

"Lora _was_ home. We've been her parents because she didn't have anyone else. I wasn't supposed to be the one who disciplined her, who did all the parenting stuff. I was supposed to spoil her, just love on her and now I'm not just 'Grandma.' So you can't just take her back whenever you want because you're jealous because, hun, you've not been here. You need to fix that relationship on your own time or join us, but don't hurt me and Luke too."

Then she stood up.

"Mom." Rory stopped her because as much as it hurt to hear, she was right and she already knew that, saw it when Mr. Howard started reading off Lora's mistakes. "I'm here to stay right now. I'm going to fix this."

"She's going to need you for more than 'right now,'" Mom said and tossed some bills on the table. "Get some of the donuts. Luke's buying them wholesale from a new baker in town. They're good."

Rory watched her go, listened to the bell chime, and looked around at Miss Patty and Babette who stared.

"Hey, Miss Patty, Babette," Rory waved.

"Nice to have you back," they said together and the lack of gossiping made their "welcome home" feel hollow.

O

The house was cold. Rory was elbows-deep into a box to make this place feel lived in when someone knocked.

"Hang on!" She pulled a Russian nesting doll from the box and shuffled for the door. She pulled it open and Lane waved, a Hep Alien shirt under an opened and baggy button up.

"You texted something about unpacking?" Lane asked.

Rory exhaled, a big stress-filled exhale, and used the doll to wave her in but Lane was already hugging her.

"Congrats on the movie, famous lady," she said, her long hair swinging around with a tinge of purple. She looked cool for an adult. Before Rory could say anything, Lane tilted her head. "It echoes in here."

"You've been here before, haven't you?" Rory asked, walking to a white-painted entry table and set the doll in the middle. It looked fancy.

"Um, I think I helped you first move in and break a Champaign bottle against the kitchen counter, but not since," Lane said and nodded at the doll. "Very fancy."

"Right?"

"So which box am I unpacking?" Lane asked and walked down the hallway into the living room, chandelier lights making her dyed hair shimmer. When she reached the living room, she stopped. "That's a lot of boxes."

"Yeah, some are still from when we first moved in. I never really had a chance to finish unpacking." Rory joined her. The living room was her kind of elegant, a little loud and cool. Bay windows stretched around the hexagonal room, surrounded by thick white frames. The four-piece sectional had a chaise stretched alongside it, all the same pastel blue as the walls and ceiling. Rory loved this room, but surrounding the couch on every inch of floor space were boxes stacked on boxes. Some of those boxes had collected dust.

"I really need to unpack," she said.

"So, just dig in?" Lane asked.

Rory gestured for her to go at it and went back to the box where she pulled the Russian nesting doll from, shifting around newspaper-wrapped decorations. Some were from Asia, across Europe. She traveled a lot, so she wanted the house to reflect that. Grandpa would have been proud.

Lane was prattling on about Zach taking over as manager for the delivery company he'd been working at for the past two decades, but Rory was having a hard time paying attention. She had unwrapped a delicate silver framed photo of her holding Lora in the hospital. In it, she was still sweaty from delivery, which she had hated, and Lora looked perfect. She was like a tiny porcelain doll, just staring up at her with those brown eyes. When Rory first saw those brown eyes, almost black after she was born, her first comment was, "I gave birth to a demon."

_"What are you talking about?" Mom asked. "She's perfect."_

_ "Aren't babies supposed to be born with blonde hair and blue eyes?" Rory vaguely remembered reading that somewhere._

_ "You're crazy. You were born with black hair. The blue eyes stuck around with you though."_

_ "But she doesn't have blue eyes."_

_ "What does that matter?"_

_ "She doesn't look like us."_

_ "She looks like my mom."_

_ "But I wanted her to have our eyes. She doesn't have our eyes."_

Looking at the photo now, she saw what her mom saw. Lora was perfect and Rory had been crazy and exhausted and drugged.

"Lane," she asked, interrupting her friend's complaining rant about her almost 30-something son Kwan being in a band competing with Hep Alien for local gigs.

Lane turned around with dishes in hand, expensive decorated ones from Spain.

"How well do you know Lora?"

Lane waved a plate at her like she was joking.

"So well," Lane said. "I'm pretty sure she's Hep Alien's biggest fan. She's in the front row at every gig and knows the lyrics to our original tracks probably better than Zach. She even helped us write a song, though it was kinda dark."

"She helped you write a song?"

"She's super artistic. She painted our last album cover, what she called a fauvism take on skull and crossbones."

"She knows what fauvism is?"

"She knows a lot. She's smart, like you."

"Why is she doing so badly at school?"

Lane was quiet. The dishes in her hands clacked awkwardly.

"Lane, I need your help," Rory said. "Fill in some of these gaps. The principal said she was detained by police after getting into a fight with a kid at school?"

"McDoosherson." Lane nodded, hair flying. "That boy is trouble with a capitol T, my friend. She and him were hot and heavy for a while when she was really young, maybe 14. Lorelai was not happy. Put her on the pill. There was a lot of yelling and drama."

"How are they best friends then?"

"Lora and Lorelai? Because Lorelai hated McDoosherson, but she _tried_ to get to know him. That is until the on-and-off again stuff started and he treated her pretty bad. But during one of the off-again phases, she and that Banyan boy _finally_ got it together and McDoosherson did not take rejection well. I think he wanted to always have her to fall back on, to be there when he needed something, but now she's not and he got even meaner."

"What did he do?"

"He wouldn't leave her alone. He really picked on Aaron Banyan. Lorelai had to call the police, but when they arrived at the school to check up on things, Lora was beating McDoosherson senseless." Lane pumped a fist in the air like she approved.

"Why?"

"She said he threatened to hurt the family. The whole town knew Lorelai was going to get the police involved. She was scared for Lora and, well, Lora did what Lora does."

"Which is what?"

"She stood up for the family."

"Since when is that her thing?"

Lane stacked the dishes on a couch cushion, wiping her hands.

"She's just … super reliable. If someone needs her, she is there in an instant."

"No, she's not," Rory laughed.

"You're different." Lane reached back into the box, pulling out enormous coffee mugs from New York. "She reacts differently to you."

Rory felt like she needed to leave town just to clear her head. She looked around at the windows instead, calming her anxiety.

"Is that why everyone in town has been acting weird around me?" Rory asked. "This town loves me. No one has treated me like this before, not ever."

"Everyone's seen how Lora spins out when you leave and when you come back. A lot happened the last few months, Rory. Your mom had a heart attack. Lora ran away to Chicago. You got really famous, more famous than in the last few years. Now you're home and no one knows why and we're just waiting to see how Lora handles it."

"I can't just come home because this is my home?" Rory felt sucker punched.

Lane looked around at the boxes.

"I'm happy to see you," she said.

"And I didn't get the impression that anyone was a big Lora fan," Rory snapped. "Isn't she a town menace?"

"Lora?" Lane looked shocked, eyes huge behind her glasses. "Not at all. She's our sad little fallen angel. Everyone loves her. Just not the McDoosherson family."

Rory slammed the photo of her and Lora back into the box.

"Oh, these are pretty wine glasses," Lane said, moving on with the unpacking. "We're going to have to try them out."

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: THANK YOU ALL for the comments. They inspire me. Keep it coming and I will too! _


	13. Chapter 13

**Episode 13: The thing Lorelai forgets**

Lorelai watched the dog.

It was some kind of corgi mix and kept spinning in circles, bored of its leash as its family checked out of the Dragonfly Inn. It butt fluff bounced as it hopped.

"Please come again soon," said the new receptionist, some gum-chomping 18-year-old Miss Patty sent her way. Lorelai didn't like the girl and her pink and blue hair or the way she never showed up for work on time.

"They're trying to schedule a time to come back before they leave, Charlotte," Lorelai reminded, waving at the corgi who zeroed in on her when she spoke.

"Oh," Charlotte lolled her gum across her tongue, mouth open, thinking, "oh yeah. October, right?"

"That's when you have Barktober, right?" asked the dude holding the corgi's leash, a fedora tipped too far forward. "That's the one with the dog parade, right?"

"Um, sure," Charlotte mumbled, dragging her fingers along the work iPad to the October calendar.

"It is," Lorelai said, walking over to straighten the magazines on the coffee table behind them. She waited until they were scheduled to return just before Halloween and then leaned on the front counter, cocking her head to the side until Charlotte looked up through her purple-colored contacts.

"You're fired," Lorelai said and walked away, feeling a little like her mom and actually not that mad about it for once.

"Again?" she heard Charlotte ask the empty front room.

Lorelai breathed in the smell of salmon and lemons just as the stress of the day settled into her chest. She rubbed at her sternum as she shoved the kitchen doors open. Luke looked up from brushing lemon sauce over uncooked salmon spread over cedar planks.

"When is the new chef showing up, Lorelai?" Luke asked. "You said after Sookie left for her usual six months, the normal six months she takes off to do whatever it is she does in the mountains with dirt and mushrooms and God knows what else, that you'd get a new chef."

"They're coming," Lorelai said, pouring herself some coffee.

"No, you always say that and they don't show up until three months into Sookie's time away and I'm left filling in until they do show up," Luke fumed. "That's three months, _three months_, away from my diner as I deal with the dinners over here. Can't you just drag Winnie from the Spa to the Inn?"

"But then who'd cook at the Spa?" Lorelai asked, staring into her mug. She couldn't feel her hands.

"Hey, hey." Suddenly Luke's hands were on her arms, steering her to a stool.

"What are you doing?" She watched in horror as someone took her coffee away, the warm, steaming mug of what smelled like fresh-brewed goodness. She reached after it. A clear glass filled with water was put in against her palm and someone wrapped her other hand around it. It felt cool but the room was spinning.

Luke's face came into view, worried and drawn, his lips wiskery and tight.

_"You need to sit down, Lorelai." Luke was insistent, hands firm as he guided her to the couch, kneeling in front of her. When he let her go, she saw his hands were shaking._

_ "What's wrong?" Emily asked, her voice tinny through the iPad speakers, the Skype video call still running wherever Luke set her down. "Luke, you tell me right now what is happening to my daughter. Is it her heart?"_

_ "Did you take your medicine?" Luke asked. "The doctors said you'd get lightheaded if you missed a dose. Did you miss a dose?"_

_ "Did she miss a dose?" Emily snapped. "Luke, how could you let her miss a dose? You know what happened to her father, don't you? He died, Luke. Do you want her to die?"_

_ "Mom," Lorelai cried out. "Stop it."_

_ "Well, she's alive enough to still be mad at me, she must be fine."_

_ Luke's lips pressed on her forehead, hands still trembling with fear as he touched her hair before jogging into the kitchen._

_ "Listen, Lorelai, I hired a private investigator," she said that slowly, like it was a title in a foreign language, "also known as a P.I., to look for Lora in Chicago."_

_ The room was spinning again. Her chest hurt. It hurt a lot. It felt raw, like someone had taken a shredder to her heart._

_ "He has both of our cellphone numbers, so if he finds something out while you and Luke are on the flight there then I will fill you in when you land," Emily said, all business now. "Are you sure you don't want me to join you?"_

_ "You're 90 years old, Mom," Lorelai said, her voice sounding about as raw as her chest felt. "Unless we get you a motorized wheelchair, we'll be faster with you running things from home."_

_ "You're right." Emily sounded proud about "running things" but then paused. "You know, Lorelai, I'm healthier than you are. Are you sure you're up for this? You can come to my place here in Nantucket where my nurse can keep an eye on you and Luke can head out on his own to Chicago. No need to put extra stress-"_

_ "I'll have extra stress if I'm not there." Lorelai looked up and surveyed the travel bags that were just about packed up and ready to go. She didn't want to check a bag, so they each had carry-ons, something mid-sized so they could hurry._

_ Luke hurried back in, careful with a cup of water and a napkin with her miracle pill._

_ "Lorelai," Emily said to the room, the iPad facing the ceiling. "It's going to be okay."_

_ She sounded so sure._

_ "How do you know?" Lorelai allowed her fear to show, just for a minute, to her mom. Tears welled up. "She ran away from me, Mom."_

_ "Because, you ran away from me. And everything turned out perfectly fine."_

"Lorelai." Luke braced his hands on both sides of her face, making her focus on him here in the kitchen at the Inn. The smell of lemon was strong. "Did you forget to take your medicine this morning? Is that what's happening?"

He looked so scared. Lorelai stared at him, thinking back over the years raising Lora. It was like having a kid together, to be honest. Lora was their kid, the one they should have had, the one she wanted them to raise. She wished they had their own, she wished Rory raised Lora and had the relationship the two of them should have had, but for her and Luke, it worked. They were a good team. The only time they got shaken was when she had the heart attack.

_"Don't you leave me," Luke said through the swirl of colors and pain as Lorelai rode in the ambulance. She had no idea when he had showed up or how long they had been listening to the whirly-whirl of sirens. "Don't you dare leave me, Lorelai. You don't get to do this to me."_

That shaking, terrified voice didn't belong in Luke's mouth. He was angry and strong and methodical. That tone haunted her.

He had that tone now.

"Lorelai," he repeated.

"I forgot my pill," she said. "Lora's gone, Luke. She's at Rory's house."

"What does that have to do with this?" he asked.

"We have a routine. Now she's not there. I forgot my pill."

He hung his head, pressed his face against her legs.

"Where's your purse," he asked, pulling himself together. "You have your backups, right?"

She nodded.

"Under the front desk, in the top drawer," she said. "My purse is there."

"Grandma?" Lora's shout rang through the Inn and Lorelai sat up. "Grandma, it's Aaron!"

Luke cussed.

"Let me guess," he muttered to her. "His dad got mad at him again."

Luke was growling as he stood, hands already in fists.

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: All the comments are making me write so fast! I'm amazed. Thanks you guys._


	14. Chapter 14

**Episode 14: Luke the Duke and one dusty room**

When Lora first met Aaron Banyan, she was on her knees in the field behind his house looking for her rag doll after Paul Anka stole it and ran off.

Grandma was helping her look through the weeds, being funny with voices of characters from Sesame Street in case the doll responded to one of them. Lora had looked up when she heard a rustle in front of her and found a little boy crawling through the mud.

Lora thought back to that smeared face as she sat in the back of Grandpa's truck now, jostled as they turned down the Banyan street. The silence in the cab behind her was deafening. Grandpa was mad. Grandma was tagging along because she always helped diffuse them both. Lora had Grandpa's temper. Somehow, someway, she got his temper.

As Lora watched the sun start to fall asleep, tinging the clouds an angry red, she remembered Aaron's scared little face that day, those huge blue eyes from when they met in the field all those years ago.

_"What are you doing?" she asked._

_ "Hiding from him," he whispered._

_ "Who?"_

_ "_Him._"_

_ She nodded because whoever _he_ was, he must be scary. She sniffed and wiped tears off her cheeks._

_ "Have you seen a doll?" she asked him._

He had gotten up from his hiding place to help her look for her doll, which they never found. But his dad had found him. She remembered the bruise on his arm on the playground the next day. She swore to never let him go after that, not if he was brave enough to face _him _down just for her.

And now Aaron did it again by punching McDoosherson in the face just because he was showing her disrespect. Aaron was made of gold and she couldn't understand for the life of her why no one else saw it.

_Well_. Lora looked over her shoulder through the cab window at the back of her grandparent's heads. They knew it. They loved Aaron too. Which was why they were both mad.

The truck suspension squeaked as Grandpa bounced into Aaron's driveway and the porch light flickered on just as the front door swung wide. Aaron rushed onto the porch, waving them to leave, checking over his shoulder. He wasn't shouting out to them. That meant dad must be home.

Grandpa was already out of the truck, slamming the door behind him, rolling his shoulders like he did before stepping up to the plate for the town softball games. He rolled his shoulders to warm them up, ready to hit something hard enough for a home run.

Lora leapt out the back of the truck, boot heels crunching on pebbles.

"Luke," Grandma said in that wait-a-minute tone, rounding the truck to hop in front of him, a hand on his chest. "Hang on, hang on. Let's just talk to Aaron before you hulk out on his dad. That's not going to help anything but get you more anger management." She laughed and it was her nervous one, the one that was too loud, too wild.

Lora stepped passed them both straight into Aaron's arms. The bruise on his face was still swollen, still bad.

"Grandpa," she called and pointed at it. "Look at what Tim did."

"I don't want you all here," Aaron said. "He's been drinking."

"Has he?" Grandpa asked, eyes wide, and marched right up the steps with Grandma trying to slow him down, quipping about how he and Ricky Ricardo have the same temper.

But before either of them made it onto the porch, the door opened again. Aaron's dad, Tim, leaned on the doorframe, his clothes too big like he didn't bother eating, a vodka bottle in hand with misty liquid inside, the cheap stuff.

"Aaron, you didn't tell me that we had people coming over," Tim slurred, flipping his head to get his stringy blond hair out of his greasy face. "Is that pretty little Lora?" He grinned, missing one of his front teeth. It must have been knocked out in one of his bar fights.

That smile was enough to send Grandpa into overdrive. He slipped around Grandma and his fist went flying. Lora clung to Aaron's Bob Seger shirt, more relieved that Grandpa was finally letting out years of anger into action instead of more shouting, more screaming, more tears.

By the way Tim's mouth opened, he was shocked.

Then Grandpa's fist made contact. The slap of knuckles on skin echoed through the front yard. The tequila bottle clattered down the porch, rolling and sloshing. Tim slumped down the wall, looking winded. He stared up at Grandpa and rubbed at his jaw.

"You have some nerve," Tim breathed, quivering like one of the stray cats when it rained.

Lora couldn't look away from him. After all this time, this scary man who bullied and hurt Aaron and the whole Banyan family sat there like a puddle of what she always thought he was. When Grandpa shouted and "set him straight" over the years, he never backed down. Not really. Not until now.

Tim Banyan didn't know what to do.

She looked at Grandpa. He might be old and gray, but he was solid. He was a mountain.

Nodding like he did when the burgers were done on the grill, Grandpa put an arm out to steer Grandma off the porch. She had a hand in front of her mouth, but once he got her moving, she did what she always did when they came rushing to this house to stand up for Aaron.

Arms open, she grabbed hold of Aaron, filling the silence with so many words, fast, words, something about Winnie making ice cream at the house.

But Lora just watched Tim, watched him watch them as they piled into the truck with his son. She couldn't tell what he would do now, if he'd finally leave Aaron alone because someone bigger and badder was on his side, or if he'd get worse. By the way his blurry eyes zoned out, he probably didn't know either.

"Lora," Grandpa called.

His tone was so different when he talked to her or Grandma. It was like he melted.

Lora moved, reaching up to let Aaron pull her into the truck bed.

O

They'd done this so many times.

Lora pulled a suitcase of clothes up the stairs leading up from the garage. Grandma bought Aaron lots of new clothes this year, by the weight of it. Lora opened the guest room door, and yanked the suitcase with her, wheels bouncing over the last carpeted stair.

The room was the same. It still smelled like Aaron when he stayed with them … was it this past Easter? All of April? It smelled like too much coffee, Cat Stevens, and Old Spice.

She rolled the suitcase over the room's rugs, which Grandma had thrown down so Aaron's bare feet didn't freeze in the mornings on the hardwood, and heaved it onto the fresh sheets and billowy white comforter she had just set up. Lora unzipped the suitcase and started filling in the drawers with the new clothes, stopping to smile at the new fancy sweaters and dark jeans. Grandma had good taste.

When that was done, Lora dropped some new black pepper essential oil into the potpourri bag in each drawer, pinecones and nutshells gathered together in black mesh bags.

She jumped when the Bangles blasted through the room and turned to see Grandma bumping to _Manic Monday_, a wood polisher and rag in hand She sang off-key as she cleared dust off the old desk she salvaged from the Inn when they bought new furniture.

Lora laughed and bobbed her head to the music, loving her Grandma so much it hurt. For the longest time, when Grandma piled Aaron into the truck and took him here for a while when she couldn't stand how bad it was at his house, she called him their stray.

"_Always taking in strays," Grandma teased, tossing some fuzzy throw pillows off the bed and to the window seat._

"_What was this room for?" Lora asked, sitting with Aaron on the floor, staring up at the wall of Yale banners and Yale photos. She always wondered what this guest room was used for, especially since only Aaron ever stayed in it._

"_For when your mom visits," Grandma said after a long pause._

"_Mom hates this room," Lora laughed and grinned at Aaron who picked at a hole in his tennis shoe. "She never stays with us."_

_Grandma was nodding._

"_She didn't like it when we turned her old room into your room, hun," she said. "I just moved everything into here. It's why Grandpa and I renovated the garage, so we could have a place for her to stay."_

_Lora sneezed when Grandma threw open the curtains and dust went airborne_.

Lora looked at that Yale wall as Grandma draped her rag over a broom and swept the ceiling for spider webs.

A photo of Mom standing with her Yale friends, all dressed up for graduation day, smiling with their diploma holders, stood out from the center of the blue and white chaos. Lora used to imagine herself standing with Rory in that picture, back when she was little, when she thought her mom was some mover and shaker, some world traveler.

Now she stared at the photo and wondered how long it had been since Rory had even seen it.

"_Just another manic Monday_," Grandma sang, swinging her hips, gray hair bright in the lamplight.

O

The green tea ice cream was like chilled drops of heaven.

Lora stared at Aaron as she dipped her plastic spoon into her bowl, loving how comfortable he looked sitting at their yellow dining room table, leaning on an elbow as he laughed at Grandma and Winnie arguing over whether or not there was enough ingredients to make chocolate ice cream.

"I thought I stocked your cupboards with chocolate last week." Winnie folded her tattooed arms, rolling her head around to emphasis her unsaid point which jostled her spiked pixie cut.

Grandma's mouth fell open, but she just spluttered.

"Guilty," Winnie pointed, loud, blue eyes huge because she knew exactly what happened to all that chocolate. She opened her hands to the cupboards. "Filled with bits 'n bobs, nothing chocolaty at all."

"Bits 'n bobs?" Grandma gave her cupboards the side eye. "Bits of what and what part of Bob?"

"Bits 'n bobs!" Winnie opened one cupboard and grabbed a Star Wars mug and a spool of blue thread, waving them around like they were alive. "Bits 'n bobs!"

"That's Han Solo, not Bob," Grandma said.

"The cheek," Winnie droned and put them back.

"That one I know," Grandma said, clapping in victory.

Grandpa shook his head at Lora and Aaron, his smile small but there. He loved these moments as much as Lora and Aaron did.

"I can make more ice cream, but not chocolate," Winnie said, turning to wipe the ice cream maker down. "Where'd you get this gem anyway? It's quite minted."

"Oh, mint ice cream!" Grandma cheered. "Mint ice cream."

"Where'd you get it?" Winnie persisted, jumping a little in place.

Lora stole some of Aaron's ice cream as he laughed at their antics. He cried in protest and tipped her empty bowl to see if there was any left, then gave her a grin as he let her take even more.

"Mom, have you seen Lora?" The front door slammed and Rory rushed into the kitchen, hair in a ponytail, frown lines deepening as she looked around. "What's going on?"

"Do you like mint ice cream, Lorie?" Winnie asked.

"It's Rory," Rory snapped.

"Roara," Winnie echoed, still wiping down the ice cream maker she had washed. "Is that short for Arora? If not, my word, Lorelai, why'd you name her Roara?"

Lora grinned at Winnie, who turned and winked at her. She loved that the chef never gave Rory anything but a hard time.

Grandma was already pulling Rory to sit down though, plopping into a chair herself, exhaling as if she'd been running a mile.

"How's your day been?" Grandma asked her.

Rory was staring at them all like they had grown extra heads. She lingered on Aaron and his black eye before zeroing in on Grandma again.

"Why is _he_ here?" she asked.

Lora let her spoon drop in the bowl, which didn't smack as loudly as she wanted because it was plastic.

"He's staying with us for a bit," Grandma said. "Which, maybe you should go get ready for bed, Aaron?"

Aaron nodded and his chair scraped as he got up. Lora moved to go with him, but Rory pointed for her to sit back down. Aaron stared at that finger and then waved for Lora to stay too as he left the house for the garage.

Lora sat slowly, blinking hard when the front door closed behind him.

"Why is he staying here?" Rory asked. "And what happened to his eye?"

Grandpa huffed and stretched out his right hand, the knuckles already darkening.

Rory didn't miss that either.

"Did you?" She looked both surprised and pleased, but then confused. "But then why is he staying here? Someone help me out here."

"No," Grandpa said. "I didn't hit him, I hit his dad. His dad did that to him, Rory. Maybe he learned his lesson this time, huh?"

"We let him stay here when things get a little tense at his house." Grandma patted Rory on the arm. "He stays in the guest room outside."

"My room?"

"You don't stay there. I don't think you've ever even looked at it."

"Because _that_ is my room." Rory pointed to the bedroom door where Lora's name was still spelled out in stickers. "But you moved everything without asking me. Even your mom never did that to you."

Grandma leaned back.

Winnie slammed a drawer shut.

"Let's give the mint ice cream a rain check." Winnie shoved her sleeves up a little higher to show off her tattoos as she gave Rory a glare.

Grandpa cleared his throat.

"Win, let me help you clean up," he said and stood.

"Already done," she said.

"Oh." He stood there, awkwardly.

"You know what, forget about it," Rory said. "Lora, it's time to go home. You have school in the morning."

Lora was about to say no, she was going to stay here, but Grandma was leaning over for a hug goodbye.

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for the comments everyone! It gets me to write faster. Sorry for not posting as spastically as normal this weekend. Life got busy but things are calm now so I may post more later today. Now tell me what you think and what you still want to see (I have so much planned out- this will be one very long story, so I hope you're all ready for it!) But suggestions are always taken!_


	15. Chapter 15

**Episode 15: A little bad advice**

As they left the house, Rory looked up at the golden light melting from the upstairs windows above the garage. It looked warm up there in that weird new guest room, the one she hated. She remembered coming back from her very first author trip after _Gilmore Girls_ got published. She made sure to be home for Christmas, even if it was a couple days late, and saw the roof ripped off the garage.

_"Let me guess, Santa's sled flew by a little too low," she laughed, Lora clinging to her leg as soon as she stepped out of the rental._

_ Lorelai hugged her thick pink sweater closer, breath coming out of her mouth frosted and white. She looked so happy to have her home._

_ "Rory," Luke shouted from the opened front door. "Merry Christmas!"_

_ "Merry Christmas!" Lora shouted to the sky to no one in general._

_ "Exactly what happened," Lorelai joked. "Now we have no choice but to turn it into a guest room."_

_ That was surprising._

_ "For Santa?" Rory guessed._

_ "For you." Lorelai looked a little scared._

_ "But I have a room."_

_ "Well, after a few months we decided to make your old room into Lora's room," Lorelai said. "I wanted to keep everything in your old room the same, but we just are moving it." She was nodding, as if nodding would make Rory agree. "This way, you get some privacy too."_

_ Rory was already walking, wanting to see for herself that what used to be hers wasn't anymore. Moving up the stairs, into the house, through the hallway, all felt surreal. Then she opened her door and instead of her Yale honor wall were posters for My Little Pony and that stupid Baby Shark song. The bed had new sheets, white frilly ones, covered in stuffed animals from animated movies that she sat through a million times but couldn't think of now. Her bookshelves were gone, replaced by new white ones full of baskets of toys and kid books. It even had new paint, white with pink pin-stripes._

_ "It's disgusting," Rory said._

_ Lora wandered into the room and opened a trunk at the end of her bed, but looked around at her when she said that. Lora searched for what Rory didn't like, but didn't find anything so just stood there staring back her with huge brown eyes, big like saucers._

_ "It's not disgusting," Lorelai said, stepping up behind her, fiddling with her sweater. "It's Lora's favorite color."_

_ "It's like what it would have been if Gigi moved in," Rory said. "How could you do this?"_

_ "Honey, you left in May," Lorelai said. "It's January."_

_ "That's not long enough for another home renovation," Rory argued._

_ "That's a full gestation," Lorelai said. "You could have had another kid, for all I know."_

_ "Where is this coming from?" Rory felt her face getting hot. "I thought you were happy for me."_

_ "I am."_

_ "Sure you are. Well, then I'm sure you'll be just as happy when I tell you that an author wants to co-write a book with me in London."_

_ "You're leaving again?" Lorelai's eyes got bright and she looked down, past Rory._

_ Rory followed her attention to find Lora standing tiny in the middle of her old room, tiny hands in front of herself, fiddling with the front of her blue jumper._

_ "Mommy's going away?" Lora asked and her lip trembled._

_ Rory crouched. This isn't how she wanted this to go, telling her about her new project. She reached out to Lora, who fell into her arms like crumbling pastry._

_ "Just for a little bit." Rory held her close, smelling her hair._

_ "No," Lora cried, clinging to her, and the sound of that "no" was hard to hear. It was the sound of genuine hurt but Lora would understand when she was older. This would pay for everything. Emily Gilmore wouldn't be around forever, Lorelai didn't have the money to pay for Lora's college, and Rory already burned through her trust fund with all of her traveling after college when she was between jobs._

_ Lora would understand later._

"It doesn't matter that you've never seen the room," Lora said, looking up at the guest room windows too. "It's Aaron's now."

Rory shook her head.

"I thought you two broke up," Rory said.

Lora was quiet.

"So you are broken up?" Rory laughed. "Why do you care so much if you're broken up? He isn't a winner, let me tell you. Has your great-grandma met him yet? Because she would scare him off in a second."

The look Lora gave her was venomous.

"He's my best friend," Lora said, but then hesitated, searching for something in Rory's face. It was dark outside, which made Lora's eyes like black pits. Sometimes Rory still thought she looked like a demon child. "You've always been able to get guys to commit to you. If you didn't lie about that in your book."

Rory waited, curious where Lora was going with this.

"How do you do it?"

Rory couldn't believe it. Lora was actually asking for her advice. She couldn't hide the grin that pulled her mouth up as she wrapped an arm over Lora's shoulders and led her to the Toyota.

"You get them to focus and I've found that jealousy can do the trick," Rory said, pleased that Lora came to her and pleased to have a chance to get her away from that Banyan boy.

O


	16. Chapter 16

**Episode 16: St. James Day**

"Am I going crazy?"

Lorelai stared at the table next to the front windows of the house, stared at the dust outline of where the old monkey lamp used to sit, where it sat for years and years and years.

"It was just here yesterday," she mumbled to herself, jacket on, purse over her shoulder, keys in hand, ready to go, but then she saw this … or the thing that used to be there that wasn't there now.

"Lorelai?"

She jumped, turning around with a hand up. Aaron stood behind her near the couch, wrapping a pop tart in a napkin. He looked _better_, like washed with good soap, slept in a good bed kind of better. She did a quick evaluation of the clothes he had on, a new white t-shirt with new dark navy jeans and nodded in approval. She was good with clothes, even if she didn't make them.

"You okay?" Aaron asked.

"Wasn't there a lamp here yesterday?" Lorelai pointed at the table, turning back around to see if it had magically reappeared. "I exchanged some candlesticks for it, so it was kinda pricey I guess, it's been so long now. Just a stack of leering monkeys. You've seen it before, right?"

He was nodding, walking over to stare at the dust outline too.

"I don't remember if I saw it yesterday though," he said.

They studied the place where the lamp used to sit until the silence grew too much and Lorelai looked up. Aaron shifted like he was uncomfortable, which was weird.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Thanks for letting me stay here," he said.

"You always stay here." Lorelai waved him off. "This is practically your home too. You're family. Just start calling yourself Aaron Gilmore, why don't you?"

She laughed but he didn't.

"It's okay, even after what happened this summer?" He shifted his weight from foot to foot, took a deep breath. "Even after me and Lora…."

"Aaron, you didn't drag her off," Lorelai said. "She dragged you off. I'm just glad she was with someone I could trust to take care of her until we could find her."

He was nodding, but didn't look convinced.

"It's okay that I'm here, even though she and I aren't together?" he asked.

Lorelai rubbed at the dust on the table, her keys clinking.

"I'm not going to lie," she said, "I really like the two of you together. You're her best friend. You're one of the _family's_ best friends, but that just means you're always welcome here no matter what you and Lora are going through."

Now he was smiling, like he could stomach his breakfast finally.

"See you later, Lorelai," he said and passed her for the door. "Hope your lamp turns up!"

O

The jeep struggled a bit up the dirt road. Lorelai leaned forward as if that would help the ancient vehicle, peeking through the windshield through the trees at Sookie's place.

It was _that_ day … the bad day.

Twenty-five years and still Sookie hated today.

Lorelai parked behind Jackson's truck and looked over at the roast beef and cupcakes she asked Winnie to make. She hoped it cheered Sookie up, but nothing ever did.

Just as she unbuckled her seatbelt, Sookie bolted in front of the car for the house carrying tufts of something _very_ green. Surprised, and a little worried, Lorelai hopped out.

"Hey, Sookie, whatcha got there?" Lorelai called as she hurried to the passenger side and pulled out Winnie's food.

Sookie spun around, nearly falling over her own two feet, before spotting Lorelai. Her face brightened immediately.

"Lorelai!" she greeted. "Look, edible moss! It was just growing all on its own over there in the trees. Can you believe it? All by itself."

"Edible moss, huh?" Lorelai hurried up the slope to reach her, out of breath once she did. "That sounds … different."

"Oh, it's good," Sookie insisted, pigtails wiggling in her excitement. "Not all moss has nutrients, but a lot of it does. I can't wait to see what this holds. Want to taste?"

"I'm good, but I brought some food not covered in bark and dirt."

"Are you baking now?" Sookie laughed, crouching a bit to look at the food through the glass containers under the tinfoil.

"Me? Never. But Winnie did. Not as good as you of course, but pretty darn close."

Sookie stared, sniffed, and walked off.

"Hey now, you've had her food before. You called her an inspiration." Lorelai hurried to keep up.

"That was back before she tried to take my job." Sookie fumbled with the front door before it flew open.

Lorelai raced in behind her before the heavy oak door slammed shut. She hated that heavy thing.

"She isn't trying to take your job, Sook," Lorelai said. "She's the chef at the Spa. Totally different place."

Sookie laughed and huffed like those sounds were words, disappearing through the front room into the kitchen. Lorelai rolled her eyes and followed.

"Sookie," she whined, setting the food on the dining table and sitting down. She unwrapped the plate with the cupcakes and pulled one out. "Try it."

"No." Sookie dumped her moss into the sink, flipping the water on to rinse it off.

"Try it." Lorelai held it up. "Try it try it try it."

"I said no!" The fun evaporated from Sookie like the steam in the sink. She braced herself on the stainless steel edges and looked out the window in front of her like Lorelai wasn't there anymore.

Lorelai set the cupcake down.

The faraway look is what sent the kitchen at the Inn into disarray twenty-five years ago, meals not going out, the wrong meals being made, some meals coming out burned. All thanks to that faraway look, the tears on her cheeks. The dancing and singing, the bubbliness gone for too long until she finally told Lorelai she needed a sabbatical, blaming it on expanding her pallet, that her food was bland and needed a reinvention.

It was a good cover.

Lorelai looked over at the far wall where the family photos hung in jumbled fun. It was a timeline of Martha and Davey growing up, now twenty-seven and twenty-nine, their college years, now their early job years. It showed Sookie and Jackson with them in all of it.

But there in the far bottom left, next to a vase of fresh violets, was a black and white ultrasound.

The third baby. Stillborn. Twenty-five years ago today.

Sookie was better now, but still not fulltime back at the Inn, still not fulltime anywhere. Whoever said "time heals all" never lost a baby.

The sink water turned off and Sookie slowly joined Lorelai at the table.

"I'm sorry," she said, her smile shaky.

"About what?" Lorelai picked icing off the cupcake and stuck her finger in her mouth. "Have I told you about Michel's new obsession with snake venom facials? He said it'll make him look young forver."

Sookie was already laughing.

O


	17. Chapter 17

**Episode 17: The Wonderful World of Dating**

Going to high school with everyone you grew up with is not just hard, but painful.

Lora lounged on the front steps to Stars Hollow High, evaluating her "dating" prospects, or what she kept thinking of as her "get-Aaron's-attention-again" game plan. It felt wrong, but her mom, if nothing else, was experienced. Rory could get anyone to commit to her and Lora needed that skill.

So, she squinted at the sea of possibilities from over her coffee cup and took a sip.

Vince Rodney was the prankster in the class back in elementary school. Lora guessed he looked okay now but couldn't get the image of him crying out of her head when she threw his lunch on the floor and stomped on it after he snapped her bra strap.

Trent Keller was the brainiac in middle school, but still covered in pimples and stared at every set of boobs he could spot. She did her best to steer clear of the creep whenever possible.

Andy Doose, Taylor's great-nephew or distant cousin – she could never remember, was flamboyantly gay. She loved him to pieces, especially after he saved her from Trent Keller's stare more times than she could remember, but he'd be no help in this venture.

Keller walked by, beady eyes fixated just south of her chin. Lora held her coffee cup higher to block his view. Not that he would see anything today. She had on a lightweight cowl neck t-shirt, tan because she wasn't feeling bright today. If anything, Keller would only be able to check out her legs since she wore one of Grandma's miniskirts from her memory closet. Lora had no intention of being sent home for a dress code violation either because she didn't plan on staying for very long.

She was on a mission, after all.

"What's with the heels?"

Lora jumped, coffee splashing up through the hole of her plastic lid, dribbling on her fingers.

Mike Forester took the cup from her and wiped it off on his jeans, then handed it back, smiling with the dimples just screaming from his face.

"You look like you're about to take on the world, not sit through a math class," Mike said and she felt how his eyes traced her from the strappy heels before locking on her eyes. "Not that I'm complaining! It's just that most girls are here in sweatpants or pajamas, which I guess is fine too. I'm not sure what I'm saying."

She grinned at how flustered he was, floppy gold hair twitching as he rubbed at the blush in his cheeks.

"I was actually going to the bookstore in Hartford, the one that's got the clearance sale going." Lora fixed his jacket collar, letting her fingers brush along his neck. He shivered.

"The one that's closing its doors?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"That's the one." She leaned against him like she was cold. "Want to come with me?"

"You really shouldn't be missing class." He shifted, hesitating before putting an arm around her to make them both more comfortable. "You're already behind."

Lora turned to look up at him, noses almost touching, and let her lips brush against his. She meant to just tease him, to get him to tag along with her for an adventurous, impromptu date as a way to get things started, but his lips were warm. She leaned in and let the tease turn into a kiss, his mouth soft and gentle as he pressed into it, the taste of coffee jolting her senses.

After a moment, she turned away and stood, like she would just go on without him.

"I'll go with you," he said.

O

The bus Hartford was packed. Lora liked the hum of conversation melting in with the jostle of the engine, _brrring_ as it accelerated down the highway. The window next to her arm was cool, a nice contrast to the September stuffiness mixed with cologne and perfume from the early-morning passengers.

Mike sat with an arm around her, playing with the hem of her black skirt. Warm fingers kept brushing the inside of her thigh and she wasn't mad about it. In fact, she was kinda really comfortable.

She felt grown up somehow, taking control of her life, moving into something with purpose. It made her feel powerful.

Emboldened, she took his hand and moved it a little higher up her leg and under her skirt.

She felt his breath get shaky.

"Wait a minute," he said, leaning back. Those green eyes searched hers, bright and confused. He was smiling. He hadn't moved his hand. "You didn't want to go out with me and now … what's going on?"

Lora touched a dimple and shrugged.

"A girl can't change her mind?" she asked.

He gave a deep-throated chuckle and then kissed her, a slow, lip-biting kiss.

She was going to have fun with this little plan of hers.

O

The bookstore was big and smelled of paper.

Lora took a deep breath.

Mike wrapped his arms around her from behind, not paying any attention to where they were, his mind obviously still on their hot and heavy make-out session on the bus.

Enjoying his attention, the way he stared, the way he stroked her arms, Lora looked around, a little distracted herself. She had a list of books she wanted to buy today, but now she wanted something else.

Because it was mid-morning and most people were at work, the store was practically empty aside from an old lady wandering between the history books with the fancy hardcovers and big pictures set out for display on tables. She took Mike by the hand and led him to the back of the store, away from the old lady, and into the aisle with math and science workbooks. She kissed him, pushing him up against the wall between some shelves and looked around.

"Really?" he asked and sounded excited. "Oh god, yes."

She undid his pants and pulled him to the ground, shoving up her skirt as she straddled his lap.

"Shut up," she said before kissing him again.

O

Today went better than planned.

Lora stared at the _Geometry for Idiots_ sitting crooked on the shelf across the aisle, listening as Mike caught his breath, waiting for him to shake out of his daze.

After a few minutes, he sat up, earnest about something.

"When I asked you out, I did not mean for us to…." He searched for words. "To do … what we just did. Which was amazing. It was amazing, but can I take you on a real date? I feel like we did this out of order."

She combed a hand through his honey hair to put it back where it was, though she couldn't help the sweaty bits.

"How about you come over for dinner tonight?" she asked. "My grandpa makes a great burger."

O


	18. Chapter 18

**Episode 18: Not According to Plan**

Rory couldn't hide her smug grin as she set the table. Lorelai sat at her usual place, spinning the same strands of hair through the same fingers.

"So she's bringing a boy to dinner?" Lorelai said. "At our house? With Aaron here?"

Rory nodded, the sound of Luke opening the grill out back coming in through the open kitchen window.

"Who is this boy?" Lorelai asked. "Do you know anything about him? She can't be very serious about him."

Lorelai actually looked concerned.

Rory sat down next to her, still not able to hide her grin.

"All I know is she asked me for advice and now she's bringing a boy home," Rory said.

"A boy," Lorelai echoed. "I don't understand why she didn't ask me for advice."

Rory shrugged, still grinning.

"She always comes to me for advice."

"I don't know what to tell you."

"We're pals, her and me. She tells me everything."

"I guess she doesn't hate me as much as you thought."

Lorelai gave her a look.

"I never said she hated you," Lorelai corrected, dropping her hair.

"Well, all _I _know is that she is bringing a boy home who is not Aaron Banyan." Rory let her smile take over her face.

Lorelai pouted.

"This might not be a good thing," Lorelai said. "Is she still on the pill?"

"What?"

"Have you seen her take the pill? Her pregnancy pill? She's me but with brown eyes and she's spinning out. She tends to run to guys for comfort when things don't go her way, when she doesn't feel safe, when she doesn't feel wanted."

"She's fine, Mom." Rory stood back up and finished putting the silverware out.

Someone knocked on the door. Lorelai was up and hurrying to answer it faster than Rory, still carrying a knife.

"Hey!" Rory shouted, but Lorelai was already opening the door.

It was like a flashback to the early 2000s. Dean stared down at them both, twitchy and uncomfortable.

"Lora's not dating you, is she?" Lorelai joked, but her laugh was nervous like she wasn't sure.

"No!" Dean stepped inside and in followed a tall teen, beautiful and sweet-looking just like … well, Dean.

Rory dropped the knife. She bumped heads with Dean when they both tried to pick it up.

"And scene!" Lorelai shouted, arms out.

Bounding on the stairs echoed and then Lora was standing with them in the foyer, eyes big and bright. The boy immediately crossed in front of Dean to kiss her and it wasn't just a normal nervous teen kiss. Rory stared and thought back to whether or not Lora had been taking her pregnancy pills. Had Rory even grabbed them when she moved Lora's stuff?

"Mom, Grandma, this is Mike," Lora introduced.

Rory felt like a robot when she reached out to shake his hand.

"Are you staying for dinner too?" Lorelai asked Dean, hostess hat on.

"No, just wanted to say hi," Dean said, then paused. "Hi."

"This is weird," Rory announced.

"Very." Dean was nodding.

"Oh yeah." Lora stared between them. "You two had a … thing."

"_Lora_," Rory snapped.

"It's okay," Dean said. "It is weird."

"Thanks for dropping me off, Dad," Mike interrupted.

Lorelai stood there, smiling, pleasant, also uncomfortable. Rory let her go through the rest of the pleasantries as she bid Dean goodbye and shut the door behind him. Lora and Mike disappeared into the kitchen and Rory still hadn't picked up the knife.

"Bad. Idea," Lorelai whispered to her as she passed.

Rory stared at the front door, gut churning. This was not going to be a fun meal.

O


	19. Chapter 19

**Episode 19: More fries, anyone … Bueller?**

"So, what, are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"… oh no…." Lorelai breathed and closed her eyes, but only for half a second. It was hard to look away from this train wreck, even if the first minute after everyone sat down was spent in awkward silence where even the munch into burgers was cringe worthy.

Lorelai looked around. Luke was glaring at Mike, who seemed very focused on his salad as if it could solve the world's problems. Luke hadn't even touched the food he made, just leaned on an elbow, glaring.

Lora nibbled on a fry, eyes darting to Aaron across the table as if he was a magnet and she just couldn't help herself, while poor Aaron just sat there like he'd been tased. His mouth was open a little, eyes huge – or the one that wasn't swollen and bruised, but once Rory broke the silence he seemed to wake up and lost his expression. Something mixed between deadpan and angry took over and he took a drink of water.

"Well?" Rory. Of all people. She broke the silence. As if she had anything to be mad about here at this table, the oh great Advice Giver.

Lorelai still wasn't clear what the advice had even been, just that Lora went to her with a question about boys and now here they sat. All of them uncomfortable.

Lorelai rubbed at her chest.

"Um, I don't know," Mike said, apparently not so focused on his salad. He peeked up through his hair at Lora, who just kept pulling at that same damn fry with her teeth, staring at Aaron like she was waiting for him to do something.

"We just had our first date today," Mike said and that got Lora's attention. She pulled the fry from her mouth and smiled at Rory.

"Where'd you go?" Luke asked, huffing as he wiped his palms off on his knees, readjusting to glare a little more intensely. "Not that many places to go on a Thursday after school and before now. That's what, three hours? You had three hours to take her on a date and then show up for a family dinner? You two hit it off that well already?"

"Luke," Lorelai said because he didn't need to hate this kid yet just because he wasn't Aaron and no one was ever going to be good enough for Lora anyway.

"What?" Luke asked and the pureness of his anger made Lorelai smile, but just for a second.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Lorelai asked and even Rory picked up her fork to at least shuffle through her salad. "Mike, your family just moved back to Stars Hollow didn't they?"

He nodded confirmation.

"How do you like it?" Lorelai asked through a sigh, feeling stifled in the tense air. It made the yellow light in the kitchen almost vibrate like a heat wave, except that it was cold, that or she was about to have another heart attack. It was a tossup.

"It's really nice," Mike said, smiling as if he was glad someone asked. "I like seeing where my dad grew up."

"I'm sorry, isn't it awkward that you're dating the daughter of your dad's old girlfriend?" Luke fumed.

"Not dating, apparently," Rory interjected. "That we know."

"Mom," Lora said like she was scolding a child.

"What?" Rory had the face of innocence.

Lora rolled her eyes.

"Um … where is your bathroom?" Mike asked, face red.

"The one in the hallway is broken," Lorelai said, chipper because no one else was going to be to this boy. "So you can use the one upstairs. It's through the bedroom."

Mike leaned over to kiss Lora on the side of the head and stood up. Aaron picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth, looking disgusted.

Lorelai watched as Mike left and they listened to him walk up the stairs. No one moved until they heard the bathroom door shut.

"This was your idea," Lora hissed at Rory. "Why are you so mad?"

"What was her idea?" Aaron asked. "You don't even like him."

"Oh, how do you know I don't like him?" Lora asked, angry at everyone it seemed.

"Why am _I_ mad?" Rory cut between them. "Because he's my ex-boyfriend's kid. Do you know any of my history with Dean?"

"I read your book," Lora snapped at her.

"You barely look at him," Aaron said, apparently not listening to the argument between her and Rory. "You winced when he kissed you. You don't like him."

"Why couldn't you just pick a different boy?" Rory asked. "Look at you! You could have anyone you want. And is that your grandma's skirt? Where did you get that?"

Lorelai and Luke shared a bewildered glance. This was spiraling too fast.

"Hang on, everyone," Lorelai shouted, hands out like some kind of old female priest over a wild mob. "Rory, what was your advice exactly?"

"No." Lora looked at Aaron, who turned to focus on Rory now, elbow on the table much like Luke when they first sat down for dinner. "Mom, no."

"Fine, we don't have to do this here," Lorelai said and glanced down the hallway for Mike. He was still in the bathroom.

"Wait, I want to hear this too," Aaron said. "Rory, what was your advice to Lora?"

"I don't have to tell you anything," Rory said.

"I'm just asking a question."

"It's none of your business. You shouldn't even be here. This isn't your house."

Aaron shut his mouth. He started to nod and Luke started to make sounds of protest but he was so stunned by what Rory said he wasn't forming actual words.

"Thanks for letting me crash here." Aaron stood.

"You can't leave, Aaron," Lora stood too and suddenly she looked frazzled, frantic. "You can't go back to your place yet. It's too soon."

Aaron turned around at the back door, hand on the handle. The bruise on his face was darker in the buzzing kitchen lights.

"I should go." He opened the door and Luke was already slamming his napkin on the table, scraping his chair on the linoleum and chasing after him.

Lora went to follow but Rory caught her arm.

"It didn't work anyway," Rory told her. "If he's that easily chased off, you don't want him. Just sit back down."

"Sit back down?" Lora had tears in her eyes. "You told me what to do and now Aaron's not even here anymore. Why did I think that you knew what you were talking about? Were you lying when you wrote about getting all these guys to commit to you, even the ones who were wild and crazy like that Logan guy? What was I thinking?"

"Give someone a try, but not these guys," Rory said.

"Really, is that what you want?" Lora was crying now. "You want me to dump Mike just because you banged his dad? Well, too bad."

Mike stood in the kitchen, the perfect image of uncomfortable.

Lora spotted him and was already storming at him, grabbing his arm and yanking him to the front door.

"Lora, don't you walk out that door," Rory shouted. "And if you do, you better go straight home!"

The door slammed.

"You cleared the room," Lorelai said in the quiet.

"Why didn't you stop her?" Rory turned her anger on Lorelai now. "You could have stopped her."

"Give her some space."

Rory plopped back into her chair.

"I did _not_ think this was going to happen," Rory said, diffused, staring off into the wall.

Lorelai studied her curled hair, flat now from the day, the bags under her eyes, the lines around her mouth.

"Rory," Lorelai tested. "… What advice did you give Lora?"

"I told her if she made Aaron jealous, she'd win him back but honestly I was just hoping she'd find someone better and see she had options." Rory rubbed her forehead like she was getting a headache. "This town is too small."

"It's not too small," Lorelai defended, fighting off her own tears now. "And how could you tell her something like that?"

Rory sat up, straightening her back, confused.

"Aaron needs space. It's what Luke needed. That's what men sometimes need. Aaron and Lora _love_ each other. You hurt them both tonight."

"So I gave some bad advice, so what?" Rory asked. "We all make mistakes."

"Not with her. You can't make a mistake with her. She doesn't handle things well."

"That's not my fault."

"That _is_ your fault! You should have been around more!"

The phone rang. They stared each other down for a moment before Rory jumped up and answered it.

"What?" she asked, said some other tight-lipped, single-word sentences and hung up. She stayed in the hallway, arms folded.

"Who was it?" Lorelai asked.

"The school." Rory wiped at her cheek. "Lora skipped school today."

Lorelai nodded because of course Lora did. That's when she and Mike had that date of theirs. She must have made some kind of scoff though because Rory was glaring at her when she looked up.

"I don't know what I'm doing, is that what you want to hear?" Rory asked.

"No!" Lorelai couldn't stop the tears, the shaking in her bottom lip.

"I'm not you, Mom. I'm not the perfect, cool mom who always knows what to do." Rory marched for the front door. "Maybe I should have never come back."

The door slammed and Lorelai winced at it. She sat alone in the kitchen at her yellow 50s-style table, crying and missing Paul Anka. Right about now he'd be curling up at her feet or putting his face on her lap.

But he wasn't. So she just kept crying.

O

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you AJ Granger for being my 50th reviewer! Loving all the comments. Keep them coming! _


	20. Chapter 20

**Episode 20: "I'll think about it tomorrow"**

When Lora woke up, a gnawing hollowness ate at her chest. She did her best to ignore it as she watched the shadows shift on the popcorn ceiling, a typical basement with its typical spider webs, rattling vent and reek of dusty mold.

The Forester house was stirring. She could hear footsteps upstairs, deep mumbled chatter, and soon the smell of coffee rolled under Mike's bedroom door.

He was still sound asleep.

Lora looked over at him and wondered why she bothered listening to Rory. If she hadn't, she … well. She'd be waking up in that bedroom she never really moved into at Rory's house, wondering why she was there too.

Either way, she wasn't where she wanted to be which was at her grandparent's house, in her own room, doing the normal routine of coffee, pop tarts, loud music and swapping lipsticks with Grandma while Grandpa tried to make them eat healthier food.

Lora got up as slowly as she could to not wake Mike up and slipped back into her clothes from yesterday. Just as she was trying to remember if there was a quiet and subtle way out of this house, someone knocked on the door.

"Mike, get up!" Dean called. "You're going to be late for school. You feeling okay?"

Lora spotted a big egress window hidden behind a mountain of dirty clothes. She rushed over just as Mike started to stir and Dean knocked again. She shoved boxers aside, gagging a little at the smell, and opened the window. She winced when it squeaked, but was glad she could move fast because just as she pulled herself up through the window she heard the bedroom door open.

She was already halfway across the yard when Dean started shouting for Mike to hurry for school.

O

Lora hopped on one foot in Grandma's room as she pulled on jeans from the memory closet. They were skinny jeans with a Bangles patch on the butt.

If she had her way, she'd buy Rory a plane ticket to as far away as China. Then Lora would move back home and life would go back to normal. Except the Mike situation. And the Aaron situation.

Just thinking about it made her sick.

She finally got the pants on and sat on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. It was smooth. The sun danced on it through the window as the trees flipped in the wind.

"Lora?"

She jumped.

Grandpa stood in the doorway, all blocky shoulders and gruff frown, except he wasn't gruff. Not ever. Not with her.

The moment she saw him, she burst into tears.

"Oh no," Grandpa sighed and then he was sitting with her on the floor, pulling her in for a hug. He smelled like coffee and hash browns. He smelled like Grandma's new orange blossom shampoo, like her head had been here just like this.

It reminded Lora of when she was ten years old and had lied to her whole class that Grandma and Grandpa were her parents. Then they all came over to the house for her birthday party and Rory showed up with a cake from Tokyo with her face on it next to some Japanese characters she couldn't read and Ryan McDoosherson announced that the "old people" were her grandparents.

_"Lora, why would you say your grandparents are your mom and dad?" Rory's face was shocked, pale and pinched because it made no sense to her apparently._

_ Lora just stood there next to her colorful cake, the candles dripping wax, but she just let them burn and puddle because her throat was in her stomach and everyone was staring._

_ "Why would you say that?" Rory repeated._

_ McDoosherson snickered and elbowed Patrick Rinold in the chest like the whole thing was hilarious._

_ "I'm your mom," Rory said. "Come on, a famous mom? Who wouldn't want that?" Rory's laugh was her nervous one, but Lora didn't care. She looked over at Grandma and Grandpa standing together by the stove, both smiling like they were flattered._

_ "She doesn't even have a dad," McDoosherson laughed._

_ Lora was running from all of it, from the mom she hadn't seen since Christmas, from the humiliation of her classmates finding out she was a liar, and from that stupid cake with her stupid face on it._

_ She slid along the rugs in her grandparent's room and curled up on the floor between the bed and the wall, knees up to her chest, sobbing._

_ Grandpa showed up first. He didn't say anything, just sat next to her, pulled her in for a hug, and sighed._

_ "You know," he finally said. "I like to think of you as my daughter, so you can tell people I'm your dad. If you want."_

Lora cried harder because he was the closest thing to dad she ever had, never knowing who her real dad even was and never caring enough to ask because Grandpa was everything. He was all she needed for a dad.

"We've been looking for you all night," Grandpa said. "Are you okay?"

Lora almost died of relief right then and there. He wasn't mad at her. He was never mad at her. He never yelled or got frustrated with her like he did with Grandma. He just opened his arms, taught her how to use a hammer and wrench, how to fix things, and fed her. He was her safe place.

"I'm fine," she said. "Everything is just a mess. Is Grandma okay?"

He was nodding.

"Please don't make me see Rory," Lora begged, gathering his shirt in her fists. "Just let me go to school."

Grandpa studied her for a moment. Then nodded.

She squeezed him, breathing in his smell of the diner and Grandma, then froze.

"Is Aaron … is he back here?" she asked.

Grandpa looked up at the bathroom door, the scruff on his chin jumping as he searched for words.

"No," he said. "I couldn't get him to come back."

O

School had already started by the time Lora showed up at Stars Hollow High. Her hands were shaking because she hated herself for using Mike, hated that Aaron wasn't where he was safe and loved, hated that she wasn't where she felt safe and loved. She wanted to pull her hair out, wanted to run away again to escape Rory, wanted control of anything.

So she sat behind the school in the weeds, staring at the parking lot, breathing in the wet pavement as she shivered in the morning chill.

"So I was right."

Lora jumped. From between the cars walked Britney Forester, Mike's twin sister. She wandered over, sucking on an apple, and when she plopped down next to Lora the smell of weed descended with her. Lora spotted a joint sticking out of the apple as Britney sucked the marijuana through the juice on the other side. Lora stared because she'd never seen that before.

Britney offered it to her, but she shook her head.

"Go on, just say it," Britney egged. "I was right. You wanted to bang my brother."

Lora stared for a whole new reason now.

"Whatever." Britney smacked her lips, rubbing the corner of her eye and smearing her heavy liner. She flung her arms forward and stood.

Then Lora saw a sneaker and suddenly pain hit her in the chin. When she opened her eyes, she was lying face down on the dead grass, spitting out blood.

A hand grabbed the back of her head and the smell of marijuana was back. It made Lora gag.

"I'll kill you if you hurt him," Britney whispered in her ear. "I know what your mom did with my dad. She ruined his first marriage. I read her book. If you mess with my brother like that, I'll mess you up."

Lora was trying to figure out words, think of how to fight back, but then the hand was gone with a shove. Lora listened to Britney walk away, slurping at her apple. Even when she knew she was gone, Lora just stayed face down in the dirt and cried, cupping her bleeding chin, tasting blood, smelling it, and wished she was still in Chicago with Aaron.

Things would be better if she wasn't here.

O


	21. Chapter 21

**Episode 21: The New World**

"So she's fine?" Rory sat on Lora's bed, staring at the windows at the end of the room, the blackout curtains flung open. When she came home and Lora wasn't here, then when one hour passed, then two, and still no Lora…. There had been no sleep and plenty of angry driving through Stars Hollow.

"She's fine, she's at school," Lorelai said, the sound of an angry Michel complaining in the background about what sounded like mint pillows or maybe mints on pillows. Rory was trying to tune him out and wasn't sure. "You should have called me sooner, hun. We could have helped you find her last night."

"Do you know where she was last night?" Rory asked, offended that Lorelai probably could have been able to find Lora.

"She was probably at Mike's house," Lorelai said. "Or Dean's house. He's who she's dating now and she runs to boys when she's upset." It sounded like Lorelai covered the phone, but her shout to Michel was loud enough to come through clearly if not a little muffled. "Then take the mints off the pillows, Michel! But you're crazy. I don't think anyone else thinks the mints are making the pillows smell like mint!"

Michel shouted back, but he must have been waving his hands or walking away because Rory caught none of his response.

"I gotta go, kid," Lorelai said. "Michel is about to kill Winnie for putting mints on the Spa's bedroom pillows."

"That's nice though," Rory said. "Who doesn't like a good mint?"

"Michel, apparently." After a moment, all sounds from the Spa disappeared.

Rory dropped the phone in her lap and glared at the boxes in the room. Some weren't even opened. She knew she should have called Lorelai for help last night instead of in tears this morning, but she didn't want to keep proving that she had no idea what she was doing when it came to her own daughter. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She should have been the one to know exactly where Lora was when she wasn't at home.

Instead, she blew through town like one of the nutters in New York City screaming at the top of their lungs in the middle of the night.

_"Aaron Banyon, where is she?" Rory screamed as she threw open her car door and stomped toward the Banyon house. "Is she in there with you?"_

_ The door opened, but it wasn't Aaron. Instead, some woman pinching a cigarette between her fingers, burned down to the butt and barely burning red anymore, leaned on the doorframe and gave her a slow evaluation from nose to toes._

_ "It's a little late for Miss Rich and Wealthy to come knocking at my door," she said, her voice about as dry as the ash she flicked from the cigarette._

_ "Where is my daughter?" Rory asked. "Lora Gilmore. Is she here with your son, Aaron?"_

_ "Aaron's doing some chores right now and has no one over because he has school in the morning," the woman said. "We might not live in a fancy mansion like you, but we make sure our kids go to school."_

_ "I don't live in a mansion," Rory started but cut herself off. "Have you seen Lora?"_

_ "She's not my kid to keep tabs on, girl," the woman said. "I care about my son and he's scrubbing the bathroom floor right now, just like his daddy told him."_

_ "Did you know that your son was at my mother's house? Did you know that?" Rory's anger was bubbling over and she didn't care that it fell on this piece of white trash._

_ But this woman cared. Her eyes went big as she stepped back into the house and slammed the door. The sound of the deadbolt sliding home echoed down the Banyan street._

From there, Rory had checked Miss Patty's dance studio, picked the lock on Doose's Market, swept Luke's old apartment that he mostly used for storage now, and even searched the church. By the time the sun rose, Rory was frazzled and out of options. She had to call her mom, who sent Luke home to check every hiding place Lora had.

Luke found her immediately.

As happy as Rory was that Lora wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere, her anger from last night was back. Needing to direct that fury somewhere, Rory leapt off the bed and upended the first box she could reach. Dusty old stuffed animals and toddler clothes tumbled out.

Her phone was up against her ear and she wasn't even sure when she picked it up to call anyone.

"Rory," greeted a no-nonsense woman.

"Paris?"

"Why are you so surprised? You called me."

"I'm not sure who I called. I'm just angry."

"Because you're so mad at me, is that what you're saying? What'd I do, Rory?"

"Nothing, you're paranoid."

Paris laughed because she already knew.

"So, why are you mad then?" Paris asked.

"It's my kid. She's out of control and I may have been gone too much. I don't know how to handle this. She's nothing like what I was in high school."

"No one was like you in high school, the patron saint of books."

"Funny."

"I recommend you send her to boarding school. Worked for my kids."

"I can't do that."

"Then military school."

"How is that better?" Rory picked up another box and ripped open the flaps. More toddler crap. She tossed the whole box aside.

"They'll take her for three months and set her straight," Paris said.

"I don't want to send her anywhere."

"What about Chilton? Is she good at school?"

"Not yet. She's behind in all of her classes."

"You sure she's your kid?"

Rory didn't humor her by answering that.

"Fine, but that was a good joke. I don't know, what are girls her age doing? Can't you just get her involved in something away from that backwards hick town?"

"Draw her attention to something new?" Rory sat back down on the bed. "Distract her."

"I may not be the best person to ask, I don't know my kids from Adam, but maybe a distraction from that town is what she needs. God knows it's what I would need if I lived there. That'd be why I would act out."

"You know, that's actually a really great idea. Can you help me get her enrolled in some coming out ceremonies?"

"Sure. They've already started, but you can get her in a few still I think."

"Thanks Paris. You were actually really helpful."

Paris made some kind of ineloquent laugh and hung up. Rory set the phone down next to her and exhaled because this would not only get Lora away from these boys and maybe get her to care about her future, but maybe even help them get closer. Rory got close with her grandparents when she stepped into their world.

Maybe the same would happen when Lora stepped into hers.

O


	22. Chapter 22

**Episode 22: Stuffed in white dresses**

Lorelai stared at the new _temporary_ chef for the Inn. He was quiet, timid and shifty-eyed like he were going to steal something.

"You're making Fredick's brother nervous with your over-the-top staring," Michel snapped in her ear, making her jump. She spilled hot coffee on her fingers.

"Michel!" she cried.

"Well, that's what you get for being a stalker," Michel said.

"I'm not stalking, I was standing in the doorway," Lorelai said.

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"Exactly, you were standing in the doorway."

"How is that stalking?"

"Because you shouldn't be standing in a doorway. A doorway is for walking through."

"And that's stalking how?"

"Just leave William alone."

"How close are William and Fredrick?"

"Why?" Michel squinted at her like she was up to something and led her away from the kitchen by her arm.

"Does Fredrick know if William has sticky fingers?" Lorelai asked, bouncing after Michel down the hall.

Michel _tisked_.

"How _dare_ you insinuate that William, sweet William, is a _thief_," Michel said, giving her a long, disappointed glare that would have made Emily Gilmore's pale in comparison.

"Well, he seems shifty."

"That's because you won't let him work." Michel finally let her go in the Inn's front room with its plush new couches and circular Persian rugs. Lorelai missed the old front room, but the interior designer said the Inn needed a facelift "like _now_."

"I let William work," Lorelai said, shaking her hand off that still dripped coffee. "Why aren't you at the Spa?"

"Because William called me asking for help."

"Why?" Lorelai leaned in and looked back at the hallway, waiting for William to appear with his chef jacket bulging with stolen goods. "Does he need help moving something bigger than what he can carry?"

Michel slapped her shoulder.

"Ow!"

"How dare you," Michel said. "He asked for help because you're scaring him."

Lorelai rubbed her shoulder and pouted.

"Just let him work, will you? He's my brother-in-law and the only one in Fredrick's family who doesn't hate me."

"Fine."

Michel stared, mouth tight.

"I'm sorry!" Lorelai walked away from him to the front desk where she had been spending most of her time since she still hadn't hired a replacement for that blue-haired Charlotte disaster. Even so, Lorelai felt Michel's lingering stare as he marched to the front door, which opened before he reached it.

"Hello, Michel!" Rory greeted, happier than she had been since getting back. It made Lorelai stand a little straighter.

Rory grinned as she held the door open for Michel, her orange dress painfully bright in the late afternoon sun pouring in behind her.

"Why are you so happy?" he demanded.

"Because it's a beautiful day!" Rory's smile was enormous, something that belonged on the villain of a movie just before their evil plan went into motion. Lorelai stepped around the front desk, wiping her hands on her slacks.

"Go sing a song for the seven dwarves," Michel drolled in disgust as he marched out of the Inn.

Rory let the door shut behind him, her smile still disconcerting as she turned to Lorelai.

"I need coffee," Rory announced.

Lorelai tilted her head for her to follow and led the way down the hall back to the kitchen. The smell of what might have been grilled cheese sandwiches got stronger and stronger until she stepped inside.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

William jumped, a tray flying and food splattering on the tile.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lorelai rushed over. Those _were_ grilled cheese sandwiches. "Oh wow, that looks good. Three second rule, right?"

"Mom, no." Rory pulled her away and William visibly exhaled.

"But grilled cheese," Lorelai argued as space was put between her and the food. Rory ignored her, coffee pot clacking as it got pulled out, liquid splashing into a mug, and the pot clanking as it got put back.

"Mom?" Rory waved a mug in front of her, steam blurring the sandwiches being picked up and tossed.

"So, what's really got you so happy?" Lorelai asked, sipping at the coffee. "Who is the new boy?"

"I'm not that happy," Rory laughed. "I signed Lora up for a coming out party in Hartford."

"What?" Lorelai almost dropped the mug.

"This is just what she needs, a chance to get away from this town, away from the Banyan and Forester boys, and see that there's more out there than all of this."

"You sound like my mother."

"Well, wasn't it Grandma who put me in that party, who made sure I got a real taste of that other world?"

"I put you in Chilton. That's what put you in that world, Rory."

"But Grandma made sure I experienced it and I'm glad she did. I'm glad I got to see a different culture, a different place. It made me appreciate what I had in Stars Hollow."

"It did? Because you seemed to dive head first into that world, hun, not run from it like me. And your grandma already asked about putting Lora in a party like that but after we talked she even agreed that Lora wouldn't like it. Your grandma agrees that things need to be as calm as possible in Lora's world."  
"This is calm. It's just an event."

"She won't do it."

"She will do it and she's going to like it. Half the stuff Grandma made me do you said I'd hate but I didn't. You could be wrong about Lora too."

"Why are you doing this?"

Rory took a step back.

"What does that mean?" Rory asked, defensive.

"Why are you doing this now? Lora didn't come home last night and now you want to make her go to a party? Is this a reward or a punishment?"

"It's neither."

"Is it for your book? Is it a chance for your readers to compare your party to her party?"

Rory slammed her mug on the counter and William jumped, dropping raw chicken on the floor. It slid into the fridge.

"I want to connect with her," Rory snapped. "That's what this is."

"Connect with her? Then look at her art portfolio. She has paintings hanging in the gallery downtown."

"Since when do we have a gallery?"

"Since Al closed Al's Pancakes."

"What?" Rory hitched a hip on the counter, arms folded in interest.

"Listen, what I'm saying is stuffing Lora in a white dress and making her learn the fan dance isn't how you're going to bond."

"We'll see about that." Rory picked her mug back up, blowing on it to cool it down. "Want to make her that white dress?"

O


	23. Chapter 23

**Episode 23: Coming out of what?**

Lora walked out of detention with a bathroom pass and searched the hallway for Aaron. She hadn't seen him all day and it was eating away at her.

Kicking one of the lockers, she turned and marched toward the nearest bathroom. Her chin throbbed where Britney had hit her in the face with her shoe and her bottom lip was still swollen from biting it when it happened. She wanted to scream, wanted to run, wanted to go home to her grandparents and curl up on the couch.

Instead, she turned down the hall away from the bathrooms but only made it a few feet before dropping to the floor and sitting up against the wall.

How was she going to explain the bruise on her chin? Last time she looked in the mirror, it was already turning black.

"Penny for your thoughts?" An actual penny flipped into her head. It hurt. A lot.

"What the-?" Lora rubbed her head and looked up, only to see McDoosherson sliding down the wall to sit next to her wearing that stupid football jacket.

"Don't throw money at me, McDoosh," she warned.

He lifted his hands like it was an apology. His dark brown hair was mussed from football practice, his neck lined in dirt and sweat streaks. He smelled like he hadn't showered in the locker room.

"What's with the bruise, Gilmore?" he asked. "Is it from your new boyfriend? Need me to pay him a visit?"

"It's not from Mike," Lora said.

"That Banyan guy finally turning into his dad?" McDoosherson cracked his knuckles like he hoped for some revenge.

"Wasn't him either," Lora said.

"Your mom does a lot of shitty stuff, but hitting you doesn't seem like her thing." Now he was just playing.

Lora rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine, don't tell me." He adjusted his jacket as he got comfortable.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked, eying his square chin and clenched jaw.

"Who says I'm being nice to you?" He winked one blue eye.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Can't an old friend check in?" He reached over, actually gentle, and lifted her face with a finger under her chin. His heavy brow crinkled in concentration.

"I'm fine," she repeated, but let him look because it hurt and having someone make sure it wasn't worse than she thought wasn't a bad idea.

"Wish you'd tell me who did this," he mumbled.

"You just want an excuse to be a jerk to someone else."

He frowned at her and his hand moved into her hair. Staring at him like this took her back to when things were good between them, when she liked how thick his lashes were, when she loved the pout of those lips. He leaned in and she let those lips kiss hers, let his tongue into her mouth, his hands roam a little.

Until she remembered how much she hated him.

Lora shoved him away and he was laughing.

"It's good to see you, tits." McDoosherson got to his feet, laughing as he walked down the hall.

Lora smoothed her hair and got up too. She kicked another locker.

O

Mike was waiting for her on the steps to Rory's house, long legs stretched over the curved deck stairs.

Lora still wasn't used to the fancy house and wondered why she came here instead of her grandparent's place. Part of her was surprised Rory hadn't stormed into the school looking for her since she never showed up here last night and now Lora wanted to check in to smooth things over. Another part of her wanted to see if Rory was even still here….

Grandpa might have called to let Rory know she was okay and calmed her down, which might be why there was no motherly outburst yet, but Lora didn't like not knowing.

"Hey, what happened?" Mike was standing in front of her, hands on her arms as he bent a little to look at the bruise on her chin.

"I fell." The words just came out of her mouth. She didn't even think first.

By the squint Mike gave her, he didn't believe it.

"It was your sister," she said.

"No." He laughed and the sound stirred up so much anger it startled her.

"What's so funny about that?" Lora shoved his hands off her.

"Britney wouldn't hurt anyone and she loves you. She keeps saying how she wants the two of you to be as close as you were in elementary school. Weren't you best friends?"

"That's what I've heard but I don't remember that."

"Even our mom remembers having you over for tea parties and we watched home videos of you and Britney putting on a concert in the back yard for us."

"Your family has home videos of me in them?" Lora felt sick and dizzy.

"Britney loves those videos."

"I remember only ever being friends with Aaron Banyan." Lora walked past him, so angry her fists were shaking. "I don't remember anything else."

"You remembered me." Mike followed. "It was the first thing you said to me when we met again at the school office."

Lora faced him on the porch, head spinning.

"Are you okay?" His hands were on her again, rubbing her shoulders, big and too hot.

"I'm not okay." She shoved at him again. "Your sister kicked me in the face."

The front door opened. Rory grinned at her but that creepy smile faded when she saw Mike.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked him.

Lora grabbed his arm and held on.

"He's here because we're dating, Mom," Lora snapped. "Mike's my boyfriend."

Mike just stood there, his smile bright like the bulbs on a lighthouse.

Rory glared but led them inside.

"Well, good for you but he won't be your escort for the party, I'll tell you that now," Rory said.

Lora shivered in the cold house and took in the new decorations on the walls. It all looked foreign. Rory had been doing some unpacking it seemed.

"Escort?" Lora pulled Mike along into the front room, which was still packed with dusty boxes. Rory might have unpacked a little, but it was just a little. "Are you hiring me a male prostitute?"

"Ha. Ha." Rory wasn't amused. She picked up a cardstock flyer and handed it over. It felt like velvet and had lace trimmings.

"What's a coming out party?" Lora stared at the bold lettering, at the Harford address and the date which was a month from now. It was on Mom's birthday, October 8. "Are you … coming out?"

"It's for you," Rory said. "It's a party telling the world that you're of age and ready to date, pretty much."

"But I've been dating for a while now." Lora shook Mike's arm. He was still grinning like a fool.

"Well, you're going because it's good for you to see more of where the Gilmore family comes from. I did this when I was your age. It means a lot to your great-grandma too. And you need an escort, or a date, and it's not going to be someone from Stars Hollow."

"I can take her," Mike said. "This sounds fun."

"No, I'm setting her up."

"What, do I need to wear a suit?" he asked.

"Lora, what's on your face?" Rory was distracted now, eyes zeroed in on her chin.

"I fell," Lora said.

"You need to be more careful. You have a beautiful face. Don't let it get ruined." Rory frowned. "If the bruise isn't gone in time, we can just cover that up."

Lora stared at her, at the way she evaluated the bruise, how quickly she believed the lie, and felt numb. She didn't want to do this party she read about in Rory's book, but suddenly didn't care enough to fight back. She didn't care if Rory wanted to set her up with some rich boy from Hartford, didn't care if Mike insisted on being her date instead, didn't care about anything. Rory started going on about the gossipy girls she would meet at the party but Lora stared off at the hexagonal windows partially blocked by boxes and wondered where Aaron was right now.

O


	24. Chapter 24

**Episode 24: Something's right in Twin Peaks**

Rory loved all of this, from the fabric selections to the dance lessons to the daughter who was finally starting to fall into sync with her. This was exactly how she wanted her book to go.

Of course, there was still the problem with finding Lora an escort but one thing at a time.

"This the perfect after party cake." Rory pointed with her fork at the black forest chocolate slice in front of her at Weston's Bakery. "But this chocolate orange liquor is also very good. There's just too many choices."

"Sure are." Lora picked at the raspberry cheesecake in front of her, slouched and not nearly as engrossed with this as Rory would have been.

"Back when I was your age and getting ready for this, I loved it. The dress was fun. The food was weird but different. Come on now, you need to be more awake." Rory rolled her eyes and the laugh that just fell from her mouth was so natural it surprised her. This is how things should have always been between them. "Coffee. We need coffee. Of course!"

"Of course." Lora put her fork down and folded her arms.

Rory stared, waiting for her to correct herself. When she didn't, Rory tapped her fork on the plate to get her attention.

"Show me how to sit at a table," Rory said.

Lora straightened, back arched a little, her muted expression now present and also pleasant. There was even a little glitter in her eyes, but Lorelai sometimes got that look too when she was imagining ways to torment Emily Gilmore. Rory frowned at it.

"I'll order us more coffee, but I want you to look through these pictures. Pick out an escort, would you?"

"But Mike is taking me. His parents already bought him a tux. His dad is teaching him how to dance since, you know, his dad took you."

Rory whipped out the manila folder of the pictures Paris put together for her of eligible teen boys from Hartford "which is making me feel like a pimp with boobs and an education," Paris had quipped over the phone. Rory slapped that folder in front of Lora and pointed at it.

"This is fun," she whined like her mom would have. "They're all pretty cute. My favorite is the blond though."

"Of course." Lora opened the folder slowly.

Rory hopped up with a sigh and walked over to the counter. So things weren't 100 percent perfect, but already better by leaps and bounds.

"Two more coffees," she said to a blue-haired girl named Charlotte behind the counter. The girl popped her gum loudly and nodded.

The tune of _Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy_ broke out of Rory's dress pocket. She swayed a little to it before answering.

"Hey, Mom," she said.

"Are you two coming over later? I still have to measure her for the dress."

"Maybe. We're about to go home and she has homework still."

"Oh." Lorelai was quiet for minute. "You know, I haven't seen you two for a few days. Everything okay? She hasn't been answering her phone."

"She's busy with school, Mom. I might hate that she's dating Dean's kid, but he is a good tutor and them spending so much time together means she's actually catching up in school. I talked to her principal-"

"The jerkface?"

"-and he said she's making really good progress."

"Oh. Good. That's good. And she took the news of her coming out party okay?"  
"She's fine. We're actually bonding." Rory looked over at Lora as she stared at one photo, stunning with her dark hair falling in curls over her shoulders, glinting red and gold in the sun melting in through the windows. "I think we might actually be okay."

"Oh, that's good." Lorelai was quiet again. "So will I see the two of you tomorrow?"

"Maybe. We still haven't settled on all the fabric pieces for her dress yet. We're torn between chiffon and silk, more party-looking versus more elegant."

"She is more of an elegant girl," Lorelai put in.

"Maybe the chiffon. It is a party."

"Maybe."

"We'll be over soon though because you need those measurements and then we can bring the fabrics so you can just get to work on it."

"Okay." Pause. "Can you have her at least send me a text? She hasn't even been by Luke's Diner in a while."

"I'll ask her to remember to text you later." Rory listened to her mom hum and say goodbye just as the coffees were put on the counter. They were blended. "I didn't ask for blended."

The blue-haired girl just stared. Rory shook her head and took them anyway, sliding one in front of Lora who didn't seem to notice. Rory leaned forward to look at the photo she'd been staring at for ages.

"He's cute. Want me to call his parents?" Rory asked.

"Mike's taking me to this, Mom." Lora shifted her stare to the floor.

"Sleep on it." Rory gathered up their notes so they could go home.

O

Whispers and tip-toed footsteps echoed through the quiet house. Rory listened to them from her home office and checked the clock. Looks like Mike was finally leaving a quarter to midnight. She might get a complaint from Dean about that.

She leaned back in her desk chair and watched Mike kiss Lora on the porch before he leapt over the stairs and hurried off into the night. Rory listened as Lora shut the door, locked it and made her way back to her room.

Rory wondered if she shouldn't be more controlling on how late he stays over, but didn't want to put a wedge between them either.

Deciding she'd worry about that later, she leaned forward and rested her hands on the keyboard. She was finally making headway on a sequel to _Gilmore Girls_. At this rate, she'd have a pitch to the publisher within the next two weeks.

Things were looking up.

O


	25. Chapter 25

**Episode 25: A little broken, a little glued together**

"So you fell." Lorelai didn't ask it. She stared at the bruise though, at the black and purple smear on Lora's chin.

It had been a full week since she'd seen her granddaughter, the longest they had ever gone without speaking or hanging out together … other than those three weeks when Lora ran away….

And something was wrong.

Very wrong.

"I tripped, Grandma." Lora was monotone. Those chocolate kiss eyes were pointed down. The rosiness in her cheeks had melted away. "I just hit my chin on the ground."

Lorelai fiddled with the tape measure. Lora was lying and they both knew it, but Lorelai didn't know why. Lora wasn't a liar. She didn't bother with that.

But she was bothering with it now.

"Was it McDoosherson?" Lorelai asked, wringing the tape.

Lora snorted a little at that but shook her head. She wiped a tear away.

Lorelai chewed on her lip and went back to measuring for the dress, trying to think through the panic at seeing Lora like this.

"How's Aaron doing?" Lorelai rested on a safe subject. "I haven't seen him around for a while."

Lora looked up at the mention of Aaron's name. There was even a spark of life back in them and some color returned to her face.

"I haven't," Lora said. "I've tried calling him but he isn't answering and I've been so busy with this stupid coming out crap that I haven't had time to go to his house."

Lorelai stopped measuring and plopped on the couch.

"Just say it," Lora begged. "I know you have something to say."

"A lot," Lorelai breathed.

Lora sighed as if to brace for it and took a seat on the coffee table, holding locks of her hair as if that would help soften the blow.

"First of all, Mike," Lorelai said.

Lora hung her head.

"What are you doing to that boy? You are leading him on. And do you see your face when we talk about Aaron? You're _alive_. When we talk about Mike taking you to this coming out party, you're a robot. We talk about any of the boys Rory's picked out that might take you instead, you're a zombie. If you don't want to do this party, fine. If you don't care about it either way, fine. But using Mike like this is killing you and I think it's because you know it's wrong."

Lora's head was still down. Tears dripped onto her knees, darkening her jeans.

"So what are you going to do?" Lorelai asked, so glad she let the words out that the pressure in her chest actually eased a little.

"Mike asked me to homecoming this weekend." Lora looked up, wiping snot off the end of her nose. "I said yes."

"Don't go."

"I haven't ever been to a dance. Ryan never took me."

"McDoosherson is Ryan again? Since when?"

Lora shrugged.

"Since when?" Lorelai leaned forward.

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters, Lora. You can't do this to yourself. If you want, don't have any boy escort you to the coming out party. Have Grandpa dance with you. He'll put on a tux."

Lora smiled.

"Give yourself some space and give Aaron some space. We'll check in on him, okay? You both need time and room to sort through things and that's okay. But don't try to replace him when you're not ready to move on."

"I'm not moving on. I wanted to make him jealous."

"And how's that working out?"

Lora got up and nestled into the couch next to her.

"Can I wear one of your dresses to homecoming?"

"You're going?" Lorelai wanted to pace the room, wanted to make Lora move back home so she had some kind of stability again because she was falling apart. It was just a matter of time before she broke and that was going to be messy.

Lora rested a hand on her arm.

"I'll break up with Mike the day after the dance," Lora said. "It's not fair to do it before when he really wants to go."

"He must be more like his mom."

Lora snorted.

O

By the time Rory picked Lora up, it was dark and cold. Lorelai wiped down the kitchen counter, checking the clock because Luke should be home soon, when she spotted Lora's pregnancy pills.

Just sitting there.

Feeling a knot in her stomach, she popped them open and looked inside. Lora hadn't taken any since Rory got back two and a half weeks ago.

Growling a little, she closed it up again and grabbed her purse.

"She is going to take these, Paul Anka," Lorelai shouted down to his grave on the way out of the house, Jeep keys jangling in her hand.

O


	26. Chapter 26

**Episode 26: Hello Rock Bottom**

_She had demon eyes. They weren't the blue Gilmore eyes that I shared with my mother, but something dark and wide that made her as different as Emily Gilmore, the one who married into the family, the one who never quite fit in with the two best friends. All these nine months I wanted those Richard Gilmore blues to carry on but instead I looked down at these pits._

Lora gaped at the words on the computer screen. She had bumped the mouse rummaging through Rory's desk for a notebook for school, bringing the screen to life and where the cursor blinked at the end of "_I looked down at these pits._"

Her face burned. Her heart raced. Her eyes started to tear up but she blinked away the pain to squint at the document name.

_New GG2 manuscript_

No.

For the first time in too many days, the sludge of depression, of just letting things happen to her, burned away because she did not want to be the villainous focus to Rory's new masterpiece. Lora closed her eyes and shook her head, but her hands were shaking.

At least Lorelai would have said something … if she knew. Did she know?

"Lora, breakfast!" Rory called through the house.

Lora jumped, knees hitting desk drawers. As if that was enough to shake her out of the boiling shock, out of the numbness from the past week, Lora leapt out of the leather swivel chair and stormed into the hallway. She all but ran through the front door, down the porch steps and puffed white in the cold as she just kept running.

Her feet took her to Aaron's house, to the familiar pocked lawn and the crooked mailbox. She jumped past that broken second step and winced at the squeak of the screen door as she pulled it open. She pounded on the door behind it, bouncing a little on her feet, wishing she had grabbed a coat in her rush out the door, then pounded on the door again.

No one answered.

Shivering, she cupped her hands against the front window and pressed her nose against the glass, trying to see past the blinds into the house. It was dark.

"Aaron?" she called.

Not even Cat Stevens came out.

Heart still pounding, the burn of emptiness gnawing at her, she wandered away from Aaron's place and rushed along the street. This time she knew where she was going, all but marching to Mike's house. By the time she reached it, Dean was climbing into his SUV and Britney was shutting the front door behind her, tossing an apple up and catching it.

Lora hid behind a tree as both disappeared around the corner. When she was sure neither would come back, she hurried to the side of the house and dropped into the window well, boots crunching on pine needles. Frost clung to the glass, but there he was, stuffing books into his backpack. She tapped the pane and waved.

"What are you doing?" Mike had that enormous smile as he opened the window, helping her into his room. "I was going to meet you in the tutoring center."

Lora nodded as he talked, nose to nose, walking him backwards, head spinning. She ran a hand through those honey locks, kissed the side of his mouth as his smile went from happy to mischievous.

"We have class," he reminded.

"I don't care," she said and reached under his sweater, running her hands up his stomach.

"You're freezing!" He flinched and laughed, but she kissed the sounds away, thawing her fingers on his hips. She backed him up to the bed and they fell onto it, bouncing on the mattress.

O

Lora played with Mike's hair, spinning strands around her fingers as they lay tangled in the sheets. He breathed against her neck, kissing along her collar bone.

"Excited about the dance tonight?" he asked.

"…Dance?" She blinked up at the popcorn ceiling, wondering if he ever bothered wrapping a broom in a damp towel to get rid of these spider webs. Obviously not, but did he know how creepy it was seeing they had an audience of tiny eight-legged critters overhead? She vaguely wondered if the bugs enjoyed her display of crazed distraction, her desperate need to forget about Rory and her new book.

Mike was talking but she hadn't been listening. Still, she noticed when the hum of his voice stopped. Lora peeked at him, those green eyes laughing at her as he perched a chin against his fist. He didn't seem to mind that she hadn't been paying attention, just stared as he waited for her to remember he was there.

"I'm sorry," she said, pushing on his face to make him look away from her.

Feeling suddenly sick, she leapt to her feet and searched the floor for her clothes. It was a challenge because Mike never picked up his own stuff. She snagged her pants from a bean bag chair and settled on grabbing one of his t-shirts that had a sports logo on it. She didn't know which one just that it was red and convenient to throw on so she could leave.

"What's the rush?" He was sitting up, one thin sheet pooled across him from the waist down. She briefly admired his broad shoulders.

"I have to go," she said.

"To school? I'll go with you."

"Not to school. I just need to go."

"Are you okay?" He ran a hand through his floppy hair, flipping it up on one side but keeping it out of his now concerned frown.

"I just have to go." Lora backed to the door, opening it.

"Okay, listen, about tonight. There's a party before the dance at Patrick Rinold's house-"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll meet you there." She hurried into the hallway and was up the stairs before realizing she had never been in the rest of this house and didn't know her way out.

Mike was shouting something and she could hear him chasing after her, but her heart was pounding and all she kept thinking about was how Rory thought her eyes looked like pits. Maybe she was the oddball out of the family, the one that just kept messing things up and started ruining things for people the moment she was born. She rolled her eyes because if Aaron heard any of this babbling in her own brain, he'd call her crazy or dramatic or both. But he wasn't around and she felt it like she sat on a see-saw by herself, all heavy on one side, lopsided, like she wasn't working properly.

Lora bumped into a hall table, knocking down a silver picture frame of Mike's smiling family somewhere warm and dusty. She jumped to catch it just as he caught up to her holding his bedsheet around his waist like a cheap toga.

"Mike?"

Lora and Mike jumped. Lora dropped the picture frame again and winced as it clattered on the table. She spun and saw a tall woman holding keys and black coat, lipsticked mouth hanging wide.

"Hey, Mom," Mike said, sliding behind Lora as if she was big enough to hide the fact that he was all but naked and they had just had sex.

"Who is this?" Mrs. Forester asked, petrified in place. Lora felt the weight of her stare as it swept over her jumbled outfit to mussed, knotted hair.

"My girlfriend." Mike wrapped an arm around Lora, as if giving up trying to hide. "This is Lora Gilmore."

"_Lora Gilmore_," his mom echoed. Lora never heard her name said with so much quiet disdain, like she was a piece of gum on someone's shoe that just wouldn't go away. Mrs. Forester stared for a second longer, a subtle sneer on the bridge of her perfect nose which was far too straight to be natural, before crossing the space between them to latch onto Lora's arm like a skinny vice. Mrs. Forester yanked her away from Mike, who looked too scared to do anything other than hang onto the bedsheet around his waist.

"Get dressed," his mom ordered. "Then you go to school. Your dad and I will deal with you later."

As she turned to drag Lora toward the front door, the rustle of sheets followed.

"Where are you taking her?" Mike asked, which Lora thought was a very good question.

"Go to school, Michael," his mom ordered again, this time in an even scarier voice.

O

The inside of Mrs. Forester's sedan smelled like tennis shoes and deodorant. Lora was thankful when the windows all rolled down a bit so she could get some fresh air. At first neither of them said anything, and Lora started to relax when she realized the super strict lady was just driving her to the high school and not to a bridge to plant her feet into cement blocks before pushing her over the edge.

The brakes squeaked as Mrs. Forester pulled up alongside the curb in front of the school, but then those needle fingers grabbed her arm to stop her from opening the door.

"I read your moms book," Mrs. Forester said. "Dean told me about your mom, but reading it was worse."

Lora's cheeks started to burn. She kept her hand on the door handle, ready to bolt.

"I didn't want Mike to date you but Dean kept saying you would be harmless, that Mike was smarter than him at that age and would dump you at the first sign of trouble." Mrs. Forester had green eyes. That's where Mike must get his, except hers were squinty and mean. "Looks like Dean was wrong. You're a slut just like the rest of your family and I don't want you anywhere near my son. Do you understand? Go screw up someone else's life, you piece of trash. And tell your mom she can go do the same."

Lora couldn't breathe. It felt like someone had just dropkicked her in the chest.

"Now get out of my car." Mrs. Forester all but threw her arm back at her.

Lora couldn't move fast enough. She fumbled at the door, speechless and angry and dizzy because she couldn't breathe. She stumbled into the cold air and Mrs. Forester didn't even wait for her to close the door before squealing off. Lora stared after her, gasping in car exhaust, and wiped the back of her hand under her chin. Cold tears dripped cross her hand and onto her fingers. She didn't know at what point she started crying.

"Who'd you piss off now, Gilmore?"

It took her a moment to find who shouted, but then spotted McDoosherson leaning out of his truck window parked just behind her. She put her back to him, staring after Mrs. Forester again even though her car was well out of sight now. The sound of a lid being unscrewed from a bottle caught her attention and she looked back at McDoosherson in time to watch him sip from a mini tequila bottle, the kind they used to shoplift from the gas station a town away.

"Don't drink it all," she called and marched around his old Chevy. The passenger door handle creaked as she yanked on it, grabbing familiar handholds as she climbed inside.

Nothing about the interior of his truck had changed since they dated. The Metallica sticker she slapped on the dashboard was a little worse for wear, but still there. The Dolly Parton silhouette necklace that she draped over the rearview mirror still reflected the sun.

She peeked over at him, big jaw clenched as if he saw something funny as he handed her the tiny liquor bottle.

It was empty.

"Tell me you have more," she asked with a grin, feeling out of control.

Ryan tossed the bottle over his shoulder into the backseat and turned the truck on. She buckled her seatbelt as it grumbled to life, rattling her molars.

O

The house was empty. Lora stumbled into the table with the singing rabbi, setting it off. She wanted to grab a dress from Lorelai's memory closet for the homecoming dance, which she still planned on attending whether or not Mike's parents let him go. But after spending most of the day with Ryan drinking in his truck, she was having trouble staying upright.

As the rabbi's song jittered through the living room, she plopped onto the couch and stared at the stairs. Had they always looked so steep?

But next to the stairs was Lorelai's mannequin shrouded in a beautiful, if not finished, white dress. It was for her debutant ball, or coming out ceremony, whatever Rory wanted to call it. Of course, Lorelai was creating a masterpiece and it looked almost finished to Lora's drunken eye. She got up to give it a closer inspection, admiring the heart-shaped bodice, the ivory ribbing, and the A-line skirt made of some kind of thin material. It might be a little sheer, but Lora didn't care. She was already kicking off her shoes and shimmying out of her jeans.

O

Lora showed up to the pre-homecoming party at Peter Rinold's house before Mike, but that just meant she had more time to drink from the keg while it was still a little cold. She danced with Ryan and one of his friends to some bone-thrumming music, so blissfully loud she couldn't think straight. The plastic cup she held spilled beer, but she didn't care. So the dress would get a little stained? She didn't have any intention of going to Rory's coming out event anymore. The only thing she wanted was to drive out the hollow ache in her chest, to cut off the painful anxiety in her mind. Ryan danced close with his hands on her hips while his friend grinded up against her from behind. She drank up the attention about as fast as she drank up the beer.

The song changed and Lora stumbled away to freshen up her drink, maybe even find food to soak up the alcohol. Someone whistled and she felt like it was for her, but just pushed through the crowd in the hope she would find the kitchen.

"Lora?"

She found the front door and Mike was closing it behind him, looking sharp in a suit and his floppy hair gelled into a perfect wave over his brow. He looked her up and down and took the plastic cup from her, tipping the last few drops of beer onto the tile.

"What are you wearing?"

"Listen, Aaron, it's the dress I was supposed to wear for some fancy thing my mom wanted me to do but who cares?" Lora fell into him. "I'm done trying with her."

"Did you just call me Aaron?"

"What?" She leaned back to stare up at him, then started laughing because she just remembered that his mom caught them this morning. "Aaron, why are you here? I thought for sure you would be grounded after … you know…."

"Why are you calling me Aaron?" Mike held her by her shoulders. "And I snuck out. I am grounded but I wanted to see you, to make sure you're okay after what happened. My mom told me what she said to you and-"

Lora waved him off.

"Aaron, let it go," she said and pulled on him. "Come dance with me!"

"Stop calling me Aaron!" Mike said, shaking her a little. "And what are you wearing? That skirt is really see-through, Lora, and it's ripped."

She looked down. Little holes dotted the bottom of the skirt where she had tripped on it when she walked here. She shrugged and tried pulling him into the living room to dance. He stood his ground.

"Come on, Aaron," she begged.

"You know what, no." Mike ran a hand through his hair, ruining how perfect he made it. "Looking at you right now, I can see what my mom sees. You look like trash right now, Lora. You're a mess. And are you calling me your old boyfriend's name because you'd rather be with him? Is that what this whole thing was about?"

Lora stared, frustrated as she felt herself sway. She touched her lips to try and focus.

"I wanted to make him jealous," she admitted and hated herself by the way he looked away, like she hurt him. She tried to think through the drunken fog but not fast enough. He was already opening the door to leave. Lora reached for him but he flung his arm from her.

"We're done," he said and slammed the door behind him.

Two or three other guys surrounded her, to comfort her or to make their move now that she was available – she didn't know. Either way, they surrounded her just in time to get vomit all over their dress shoes as she bent over and hurled.

O

"The last time you were like this, you didn't want to go anywhere but here."

Lora looked at herself in the bathroom connected to Ryan's room, having washed herself and brushed her teeth. She let him drive her back to his place, which was empty since his parents were out of town for a benefit of some kind. Her head hurt too much to retain what charity they were dumping copious amounts of money into.

So far, he had been nice enough … for Ryan. Plenty of dirty jokes as she bee-lined straight into his bathroom to shower and sober up. He sounded a little more civilized through the bathroom door, but she was nervous to open it and see his room again after so long, after everything. Even so, she just wanted to go to Lorelai and Luke's house, but after destroying her debutant dress she was embarrassed enough to hide out anywhere.

Instead of making any decision, she stared at her face in the mirror. It was blotched from crying and vomiting some more. Her hair was damp still and hung in shadowy waves around her face. She had on Ryan's robe, the one she used to wear all the time. It was dark blue and old. She fiddled with the pocket on the right side and the tiny hole in the bottom.

"Listen, let me grab you clothes you can wear and I'll drop you off at your grandparents," Ryan said.

She opened the door. He lounged at a desk in the corner flipping through a car magazine. When he saw her, his mouth curled up like all those dirty jokes came back in a wave. His eye was still bruised from when Aaron hit him, but here in the lamplight she could almost forget about that. She wanted to forget about all of it.

"I'm sorry I ruined your night," she said. "Who did you ask to the dance?"

He shrugged and stood, dropping the magazine on his desk as he lazily moved closer.

"It doesn't matter," he said, touching a lock of her hair and pushing it aside.

He was always so handsome, even if he was a grade A jerk. But as he leaned in to kiss her, it didn't feel safe, but it still felt familiar. So she let him tilt her head back and press his lips to hers, let him undo the robe to slip a hand around her bare waist. The shoulders she grabbed onto were familiar, strong as she ran her hands over them and onto his chest to unbutton his shirt. He shoved the robe off, the cool air of his room touching every piece of her exposed skin, his hands hot as they slowly, firmly, remembered her.

O

_Author's Note: I could easily write dirty fiction for you all! Even so, Lora is spinning out and diving headfirst into the storyline I have planned out. For those of you in quarantine right now, I'm going to try writing regularly again so you can be kept entertained. Just comment a TON with what you like, suggestions, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I am an essential worker through this COVID-19 madness so am turning to fiction again to keep my sanity. Stay healthy everyone! _


	27. Chapter 27

**Episode 27: Fast Lane to Nowhere Good**

Waking up to an empty house and no Lora was becoming too normal. After making the now-usual phone calls to Lorelai and Luke, getting a call from the school that Lora skipped _another_ day, Rory found herself standing in front of a tall blue-painted door hating her daughter. She didn't want to knock on Dean's house looking for Lora, didn't want to see his wife – who she had effectively avoided for this long and had no intention of breaking her lucky streak.

But she didn't have a choice. Lora's phone was going straight to voicemail.

The _Wah-Wah _fail sound trumpeted from her pocket. She heaved a sigh, breathing in wet grass and pine trees, as looked at who texted her.

_Not at the Inn. Michel says she isn't at the Spa. Both horses are here. Luke hasn't seen her this morning_. Rory could almost hear Lorelai's panic in her clipped sentences and lack of emojis.

She sighed again, blowing straightened strands of hair out of her face.

And rang the doorbell.

It was a classic ring, nothing like the deep and echoing bell at her grandparent's old house. If you have to have a doorbell, at least make it memorable. Rory curled her lip as the ring went on, crossing her fingers that Dean or, better yet, Lora answered the door.

"Stupid-stupid-stupid-stupid," Rory muttered, shifting her feet on the sickly-sweet welcome mat that had the Forester name surrounded by cartoon drawings of their son, daughter, Dean and his wife. Rory stared at her alien-sized green eyes, toothy smile, and super short brown hair. She looked like a Karen, even if her name was-

"Beth," Rory greeted as the door opened. So much for her super long streak of never seeing the woman.

In real life, those green eyes were squinty and mean, lacquered in too much mascara and pencil eyeliner. _Beth_. Dean's first girlfriend and apparent soulmate. For the life of her, Rory couldn't see the appeal of someone who still wore colorful snap clips in their hair. It was a weird contrast with her charcoal pantsuit and stiletto heels.

"Rory." It wasn't said like a greeting. Her name dropped out of Beth's mouth like a cussword, followed by a blockading lean across the doorway. It looked casual, like Beth was just propping herself on the white painted frame to have a chat with a neighbor about borrowing sugar, but it felt like a barbed wire fence just bared itself.

The silence stretched. Beth raised both gelled and colored eyebrows, so fleek it must have taken her an hour on each, but Rory could see where her real eyebrow stopped and the drawing began.

"I'm looking for Lora." Rory had to tear her gaze from the fake brows. She'd have to gossip about them with Lorelai later. "Is she here with Mike?"

Beth's smile was thin-lipped and mean.

"Didn't you hear?" Beth asked, eyeing her up and down like her Zara draped mini dress was nothing more than a potato sack. "Mike broke up with her."

"What?" A cold breeze knocked some of her hair in her face again.

"After he saw her drunk in a sleezy dress, he put together that she's just a piece of trash." Beth shrugged.

"Don't you dare." Rory's face burned.

"But like mother like daughter, right?" Beth asked. "All the Gilmore's are just steaming hot trash."

Rory's hand moved faster than her common sense. The slap of her palm on Beth Forester's face felt both satisfying and horrifying.

"Don't you ever talk about my daughter that way," Rory shouted, face hot and her hands now shaking.

Beth took a step back and slammed the door. The sound of the deadbolt falling home made Rory want to break a few windows, but instead she just ground her heel into Beth's cartoon face on the welcome mat before storming down the stairs.

_Buffalo Gals_ chimed from her pocket. Rory answered it with a rough "Hello?"

"Miss Gilmore?" a man asked.

"Yes?" she snapped.

"This is the Hartford Police Department."

Her heart plummeted and she looked over her shoulder half expecting to see Beth glaring from a window with the phone to her ear, reporting assault. But then her common sense finally caught up and she remembered she was in Stars Hollow, not Hartford.

"We have your daughter," the man said.

O

Lora didn't look guilty. She looked hung over.

Rory pulled her tan trench coast tighter around herself, the cold and flickering old sodium lights of the police department were both giving her a headache and making her shiver. Lora walked past the uniformed officers with her head down and looking green. More than that though, she was dressed in the department's sweatpants and baggy sweatshirt and a pair of oversized men's tennis shoes. Lora slipped in them, catching herself on the tall counter.

When Lora looked up, there were double bags of exhaustion under her eyes, made worse by her makeup falling into the creases. Dried vomit caked the corner of her mouth and clumped pieces of her stringy hair together. She looked a mess.

"The clothes she stole are returned, but you'll have to pay for them still because they're destroyed," one officer said, handing Rory a manila folder that she assumed held the bill and Lora's court appearance information. "The gas station she and her boyfriend stole liquor from will also need to be paid back. She's needed at court next week. Don't miss it."

Rory didn't bother looking at him. She just stared at her daughter, this muddy-eyed, smear of what a Gilmore should be. But then again, she must have looked a whole lot similar when Lorelai picked her up from jail that one time.

Except she got to keep her clothes.

"We won't miss it," Rory promised, grabbing Lora by her elbow and hauling her through the glass doors.

The afternoon sun was warm, but the breeze was cold here in Hartford too. Rory tucked the folder under an arm, opened the car door and made sure Lora was inside before she slammed it. By the time she got herself buckled in and calm enough to speak again, Lora was opening her door to dry heave onto the pavement.

Rory waited, drumming fingers on the steering wheel.

"Ug, there's nothing left." Lora shut her door again and leaned her head back, stinking like puke and tequila and a whole bunch of other nasty things.

"Want to tell me what happened?" Rory asked.

"Not really." Lora gave her the side-eye, like the one Paul Anka used to give her when she was doing something he didn't like, usually putting shoes away that he pulled out and lined up in neat row.

"Not really?" Rory's face was hot again and she held the steering wheel for dear life so she wouldn't slap her daughter like she slapped Beth.

"Not really much to say," Lora finished. "Ryan and I did what we used to always do and this time we got caught."

"Ryan? You mean McDoosherson? They said you were with your boyfriend-"

"Well, since Mike broke up with me, it wasn't him with me tearing through Macy's," Lora droned like none of this mattered.

"I heard."

"From who?"

"Well, when I woke up and you were nowhere to be found – again – I tore through town looking for you and met Mike's mom for the first time. Nice lady."

Lora snorted.

"She filled me in. Want to fill me in on the rest?"

"Isn't this how a demon child should act? You know, since I've got the eyes."

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw you book, Mom. The sequel. The one with me in it. My debut was real well written. People will pity you for birthing such a nightmare, I can see it now."

Rory's stomach plummeted for the second time today.

"I was going to tell you," Rory said.

Lora flipped a hand and stared out the window.

"You know, I don't have to explain myself to you," Rory decided. "You know I'm a writer, you could have figured out a sequel was coming. Are you really that surprised? I think you just want an excuse to act out, to blame someone else, because you're out of control. You're out of control and I'm going to force you back in line."

Lora was staring at her with huge eyes, mouth popped open.

"With what, military school?" Lora half joked, half snapped.

"For starters, making sure you get to school every day, that you show up to your court appearance, and shoving you in a white dress for that debutant event because maybe some new people, a new culture, will refine you. And you're not going to complain, you're not going to act out, you're going to do exactly as I say-"

"Or what?"

"Or I'm moving us away from your grandparents."

And there was the reaction Rory wanted. Tears. Actual sorrow. She could use that to get Lora back in line, she knew it.

O

_Author's Note: THANK YOU for the reviews! You know I love them, I live on them. Soooo, go review please!_


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28: Oh to be grounded**

"…Well, listen… Rory, you don't need to yell… You were yelling! I had to move the phone away- hey now, just listen-." Luke never argued with Rory. Lorelai eavesdropped as they went back and forth, sitting on the couch as she chewed on her hair like when she was small and had no control of anything.

The past few days had been a nightmare, from Lora going missing to then finding her at the Hartford Police Department.

It was bad.

Five counts of theft. Two counts of criminal mischief. One count of juvenile in possession of alcohol.

They'd be lucky if they could keep her out of a juvenile detention center. At this point, Lorelai was tempted to suggest they let her spend a few months there if that's what the judge decided. Maybe some of the programs could help, maybe some time away from Rory would help, but the thought of her gone at all made her chest hurt. The thought of maybe her being better off away from Rory made her drop her hair and press on her sternum as pain ricocheted behind her ribs.

But even worse than that was not being able to see her between now and her court appearance. Rory had Lora grounded, even from seeing her grandparents.

_"If she sees you, Mom, she's going to think everything is okay," Rory had said over coffee at Luke's Diner, smears of exhaustion making her eyes bug out. "I need to get her under control. She will end up as a high school drop out and pregnant if I don't do something now."_

_ "No, we don't want her to end up like me," was Lorelai's quick response before slurping black coffee from her oversized orange mug._

_ "That's not what I meant." Rory put up her fingers, hands on either side of her almost empty bowl of coffee, apparently too worn out to lift her hands in a placating gesture. Fingers would have to do, it seemed. "But isn't it? You always said you didn't want your life for me, so we don't want that for her either, right? What's so wrong with that?"_

_ "Nothing." That came out too sharp. Lorelai put on a smile. "Nothing is wrong with that. I don't want her to end up like me either, but keeping her from us isn't going to help. It will make it worse."_

_ "It can't get much worse than this, Mom. You know what I found in her room when I brought her home from the police station?"_

_ That scared Lorelai. She leaned back in her chair, sunlight dancing in the ripples of her coffee._

_ "…What?" she asked, already picturing something terrible like-._

_ "Stuff from your house," Rory huffed._

_ "Stuff from the house?"_

_ Rory nodded, drawing a hand through her hair which was frizzy and needing a good shampoo._

_ "Well, she used to live at the house." Lorelai smirked._

_ "It's not funny."_

_ "It's a little funny. What could she have taken? More of my clothes?"_

_ "Lamps."_

_ "What?"_

_ "Blankets. Throw rugs. Odds and ends that you might not have noticed."_

_ Lorelai thought back to the missing monkey lamp. She had asked Aaron if he had known where it went, or if she was losing her mind. Guess Lora took it._

_ "But why?" Lorelai asked._

_ "She threw out the lamp I got her and had the monkey lamp on her nightstand," Rory said. "She tossed everything I got her and replaced it with your stuff. Walking into her room was like walking into your house."_

_ "Our house."_

_ Rory took another drink of coffee, her elbow on the tabletop all that seemed to keep her from crumbling._

_ "You need to let us see her," Lorelai tried again, gentler this time. "Get us on the same page with whatever punishment you have, just don't wall us out."_

The answer had been "no." A million "no's."

"She can't see us until her behavior changes?" Luke huffed from the kitchen, muttered words lost to the sob that escaped Lorelai. She covered her mouth with both hands, surprised it boiled out like that.

Lorelai stared at the mannequin in the corner, missing its dress, but it was blurry. She blinked, letting the tears fall down her face, sticking to her fingers. Another sob broke out. How had everything turned out so messy?

The clack of the phone being return to its receiver made her jump and wipe her face. Luke stormed in, marching past her until he ran out of room to stomp through and turned around to pace.

"I tried to talk some _sense_ into her, Lorelai, I tried," Luke ranted, making big, sweeping gestures with his arms. He looked old to her in the yellow living room light, stress making his wrinkles deepen. More of his hair had gone white. When had that happened? "We should just go over there. What's stopping us? What's the worst Rory could do?"

The phone rang.

A flare of hope that Lora was breaking the rules had Lorelai bounding to her feet, slipping on the wood floor in her baggy woolen socks. She slid to a stop in front of the phone, hands shaking as she snatched it up.

"Lora?" she asked, voice breaking. She wiped more tears off her chin.

"No, Lorelai," came a stern response.

It took Lorelai's brain a few seconds to catch up.

"Mom?" she asked and her bottom lip trembled, which surprised her. She wasn't used to feeling so vulnerable around her Mom still, but every emotion that had poured out of her on the couch welled back up. Emily Gilmore put a sharp stop to any more crying though.

"I've found that Aaron boy," Emily said.

O

_Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update! Work was nuts but being sick has actually let me have time to write again. Write some comments to inspire me please! _


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